
Glass 
Book 



/ 



£3 



SPORT AND ADVENTURES 



AMONG THE 



NOKTI-AMERICAN INDIANS. 



SPORT AND ADVENTURES 



AMONG THE 



NORTH-AMERICAN INDIANS. 



BY 



CHARLES ALSTON MESSITER, E.R.G.S. 



WITH ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLES WHYMPER, 



LONDON : 
R. H. PORTEE, 18 PEINCES STREET, CAVENDISH SQUAEE. 

1890. 










Q 

ALEEE £. FLAMMAM. 




PEINTED BY TATLOE A1STD FRANCIS, 
RET) LION COURT, FLEET STREET. 



1% . 



f 

: & 



PEE FACE. 



I feel that some excuse is necessary for publishing the follow- 
ing reminiscences of my life in the " Far West/' the state of 
things herein described having almost entirely passed away 
with the buffalo ; but it seems to me that now, when so 
many of my countrymen and countrywomen go West every 
year either for pleasure or profit, it may interest them and their 
friends to know what life there once was, and it will not be 
so hard for even those who stay at home to realize it now that 
u Buffalo Bill " has made so many familiar with the noble red- 
man and the buffalo ; and those who go to Western America 
can still see plenty ot Indians, very little improved in appear- 
ance from those with whom I came in contact. It may be 
said that the incidents which I have related are somewhat 
thrilling ; but anyone at all conversant with Western life as it 
was will know that many adventures even more exciting were 
continually happening in those days ; and I can only say that I 



VI PREFACE. 

have related tliem exactly as they occurred, exaggerating 
nothing, and taking them from my journals written on the 
spot. 

I must ask for some indulgence as regards my want of 
literary skill, as I am not used to writing, and it was only at 
the urgent request of some friends that, after so many years, I 
at length consented to write some of my adventures, and I 
find it difficult to compress the events of thirteen years into 
so small a compass. I have left out many incidents and 
experiences, so as to avoid wearying the reader, and I have 
endeavoured to depict the life of a sportsman and traveller as 
it was during the period comprised in the narrative. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Leave England. — Voyage and arrival at Quebec. — Proceed to Toronto 
and then to St. Paul's. — Threatened rising of the Sioux. Its causes. 
The storm bursts. — We start for Fort Carlton. — Description of 
journey. — Arrival at Fort Abercronibie. — Hostile Indians. — Reach 
Georgetown. — Attack on Fort Abercronibie. — Barbarity of the 
Indians. — Retreat in canoes. — Awful storm. — Arrival at Pembina. 
— Arrival at Fort Garry. — Our Guide and preparations to start. — 
" The early bird catches the worm." — A Red-River cart. — Leave 
Fort Garry. — Crossing the Saskatchawan. — Arrival at Fort Carlton. 
— Fight between bloodhound and wolf. — I astonish the Indians. — 
A boxing-match. Its consequences. — Murder at council of Indians. 
Its results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 



CHAPTER II. 

Leave Fort Carlton. — Swimming horses. — Our first buffalo. — 
Laronde's method of killing buffalo. — Our first meeting with wild 
Indians. — Attempt to stalk antelope. — Immense herds of buffalo. 
— A run with buffaloes. — I run down a wolf.— Sudden appearance 
of three Indians. — An unpleasant adventure.— A night in an 
Indian lodge. — Rejoin my companions. — The advantages of steel 
hobbles. — Studying a buffalo at close quarters. — Prairie-dogs.— 
Return to Fort Carlton. — Our Party breaks up. — I leave for 
Thickwood Hills. — Sleigh-dogs . . . . . . . . . . lb' 



Vlll CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 



Scenery in the Thick wood Hills.— Building huts.— Tom Boot. His size 
and strength.— Our nearest neighbour.— Visit the South Saskatcha- 
wan. — Large Camp of Crees. — A Sioux Indian prisoner. His 
trial and fate. — Attempts to save him. — We leave the Camp. — 
Return journey. — Dreadful spectacle. — Setting in of winter. 
Severe cold. — Description of trapping in winter. — Unpleasant 
adventure with Indians. Tom Boot to the rescue. His prowess. 
— A-ta-ka-koup makes friends. — Snow-shoe travelling. — A visit 
from Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , 29 



CHAPTER IV. 

A moose-hunt. — Description of my tent. — A-ta-ka-koup in camp. — 
Hunting moose on snow-shoes. Deaths of a bull and a cow. — 

Lynx-hunting. — Tom Boot a nuisance. — F *s history. His 

miserable condition. I take him with me. — Beautifying the 

hut. — F and I visit my late companions. Our journey.— The 

wolverine. — Getting- F home. — Badger neglects the traps. — 

Narrow escape of being murdered. My precautions for the 
future. — An invitation to a stealing-party . . . . . . . . 45 



CHAPTER V. 

How to make a plum-pudding. — Our Christmas party. — Nocturnal 

visits of F and myself to the plum-pudding. — Our daily 

routine. — F does not enjoy winter. — I am summoned to a 

Cree council. — A night apparition. — The Cree camp. Accusations 
against me. Enmity of some of the Indians. — Rescued from a 
dangerous position by " White Hawk." — A new religion. — 
Impunity of lunatics. — Leave Cree camp. — Mis-ta-wa-sis corrects 
his wife with an axe. — Attempt to marry me. — A-ta-ka-koup 
propitiates the hunting god. — Camping in the snow. — A dog- 
sleigh described. — Behaviour of dogs . . . . . . . • 57 



CONTENTS. IX 



CHAPTER VI. 

PAGE 

bear-hunt. — Curious story of a bear. — A wolf-hunt. — Indian 
dogs. — Visit Fort Carlton. — Recipe for Rubbiboo. — A ball at 
Fort Carlton. — Ponies wintering in the snow. — Intelligence 
of sleigh-dogs. — Ingratitude of Ki-chi-mo-ko-man. — Tom Boot 
a thief. Determine to punish him. A-ta-ka-koup joins me 
in the enterprise. Surprise Tom Boot. Tremendous struggle. 
Tom Boot receives a thrashing. — Leave our hut for Fort Carlton. 
— Serious difficulty at the river. Nearly starved. Rescued 
by boat. My feet frozen. — The manufacture of pemmican. — 

Frozen fish. — A professional bear-hunter. — F and I part. — 

Effect of eloquence on Indians - . . . . . . . . . . 70 



CHAPTER VII. 

An Indian swims the Saskatchawan. — Start from Fort Carlton. — 
Prairie fire and narrow escape. — Unpleasant surprise. — A Sioux 
camp. Interview with the chief. Suspicious circumstances. 
A parley with the chief. — A fight and race for life. — Our mode 
of travelling. — Arrival at Fort Garry. Our miserable appearance. 
— The composition of galette.— The Sioux outbreak and cause. — 
Threat to sack Fort Garry. — Enmity between English and French 
half-breeds. — My new guide, and his character. — Kindness of the 
citizens. — Start for Fort Garry and mode of travelling. — Desola- 
tion of the country. — My first night in a bed, and consequences. — 
Taken for a half-breed scout. — Expedition against the Indians. 
Its utter failure. — Death of u Little Crow '\ — Execution of 
Indians. — Start for England . . . . . . 85 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Return to America. — Start for Kansas. — Warning against obliging 
strangers. — The town of Troy. — Horse-racing. A soft thing. — 
A breakdown. — A wrestling-match. — My new man Fox. His 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



objection to sheriffs. — The settlement of White Rock. Its history. 
— A happy hunting-ground. — A Tenderfoot's first run with buffalo. 
He prefers walking. — A wonderful inare. I buy her. — Trying 
Brown's courage.— Appearance of Indians near camp . . . . 105 



CHAPTER IX. 

Find a Sioux camp-ground. — The omnivorous horse. — A Rocky-Moun- 
tain moose. — A large turkey-roost. — A deserted settlement. — Fox 
thinks he is going to die. — Crossing the river under difficulties. — 
A fast buffalo-calf.- — Adventure with a buffalo. — Camp deserted. 
Another made. Row with the men. Brown discharged. Re- 
move to old camp. — More buffalo-hunting. — Surprised by Indians. 
Cut off from camp. Plan of getting through. Its success and 
safety. — Neighbourhood getting too warm. — Fox declines going- 
near a sheriff. — Return eastwards . . . . . . . . . . Ho 



CHAPTER X. 

Another expedition to White Rock. — A fighting butcher. — The fate 
of Fox. — Excitement about Indians. — Advised to turn back. — 
Settlement No. 10 at White Rock. — Bold settlers. — Examine 
buffaloes at close quarters. — The bold settlers demoralized. — A 
large herd of elk. — Desperate struggle with a horse. Laid up 
from a kick. — The fate of our buffalo-tongues. — Settlers about 
to avenge themselves. Their indifferent armament. A serious 
consultation. The expedition given up. — I intend going alone to 
Fort Kearney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1^8 



CHAPTER XI. 

Start on my journey. — Miserable weather. — Appearance of three 
Indians. I compel them to breakfast with me. An uncomfort- 
able breakfast-party. I bid them adieu. — Reach the ranche.— 



CONTENTS. XI 

PAGE 

Report of our having been murdered. — Mr. Martin. His history. 
— Visit to Fort Kearney. — Interview with Major North. His 
recent fight with Sioux. — Start on my return journey. — Uncanny 
sight. — Dense fog. — Camp on Little Blue River. — Horse missing. 
Vain efforts to track him. — Weary journey back to ranche. 
Quite done up. Kindness of the Martins.— Return journey to 
camp. — A pleasant surprise. — Narrow escape from Indians. — A 
horrible sight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 



CHAPTER XH. 

Awful thunder-storms. — Bad water-supply. — life in camp. — I leave 
for St. Joe. — Come across two Indians. — Arrive at Lake Sibley. — 
Swarm of grasshoppers. — Apprehensions of the settlers. — A man 
wishes me to engage him. I decline. — I make the acquaintance 
of a detective. — A plan to rob me. I manage to frustrate it. — 

Meet F at Martin's. — Sioux steal Pawnees' horses. Pawnees 

and Whites try to recover them. A fight and repulse of Pawnees. 
— Mrs. Martin's reminiscences of her husband. — Poor sport. — 
Return to St. Joe. — Intend to winter in Texas. — Billy Breeze. 
His history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Voyage down the Missouri. — Wild-fowl shooting. — Objectionable freed 
slaves. — New Orleans. — My companion dies of cholera. I also 
am attacked. I recover. — Meet some Confederate generals. — 
Gambling-saloons. — Galveston. — Several shooting-trips. — An ex- 
pensive night's lodging. — A young Englishman joins us. — A New 
Yorker and his supper-party. — The lone tree. — Difficulties with 
the waggon. — The town of Richmond. — We are fined. But do 

not pay. — F has an accident. — A useful doctor. — General 

Sheridan's horse. — Buy a wild horse. — A stream in flood. — 
Racing in Texas. — A racing mule . . , . . . . . . . 164 



Xll CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PAGE 

Move to Clear Lake. — A bankrupt railway. — Abundance of game. — 
Stalking wild geese. — Invitation to a bear-bunt. — A norther. Story 
of a norther. — Lynch law. — Bear-hunting poor sport. — Great 
abundance of snipe. — Good shooting. — Extortionate landlord. — 
Semi-wild hogs. — Wild bulls. Narrow escapes from them. — Our 
dog Booze. His fighting capabilities. — Invitation to a plantation. 
Melancholy appearance of it. — A good afternoon at the ducks. — 
A Masonic tip.— A Texan ball.— Buying mules.— Fishing in Texas. 1 80 



CHAPTER XV. 

San Antonio and Texas in 1868. — Horse-stealing. Its punishment. — 
Shoeing and breaking wild ponies. Negroes the best breakers. — 
Mexicans and their mode of life. — Part with Billy Breeze. — Move 
to Fredericksburg. — Too hot for dogs. Death of one. — Trying the 
men's courage. — Halliday, his history. — A real frontiersman. He 

decliues to go with us. — H has an adventure while on guard. 

— Fort Mason. — Indians catch and torture a man. — Big-foot Wal- 
lace. Refuses to go with us. — Leave Fort Mason. — Fight between 
horses. — A refractory mule. His cure. — An over-confident Major. 
■ — Start for Fort Belknap. — A plundered waggon. — I meet with 
Indians. I am pursued. Shoot an Indian's horse and escape. — 
Difficult country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Fort Belknap. — Buffalo-dance by Tonkaways. — A-sa-ha-be. We agree 
to his coming with us. His suspicious conduct. He leaves us by 
night. — We turn back. — Appearance of Indians. — A-sa-ha-be 
comes to propose terms. They are rejected. — The Comanches 
attack us. — We still move on. — We kill and scalp an Indian. — A 
reinforcement of Indians. — Downfall of A-sa-ha-be. — Arrival of 
three Caddo Indian scouts. We send one of them for help. He 
is pursued, but escapes. — Our casualties. — Halliday's courage. — 
Arrival of troops. — We reach Fort Arbuckle . . . . . . 211 



CONTENTS. Xlll 



CHAPTER XVII. 



The Caddo Indians. — Story of their chief and the Comanches. — An 
insolent blacksmith. His punishment. — Our camp fired into. — 
Discovery of the culprits. Their punishment. — Leave Fort 
Arbuckle. — Chase of a wolf "by a pointer. — Difficulty of 
crossing the Red River. — I return for provisions. — Difficulty of 
carrying eggs on horseback. — An Indian reservation. — Incivility 
of an Indian. We become better friends. — Thirsty oxen.— Our 
party breaks up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Account of Julesburg. A specimen of the manners of Julesburg. 
Our lodgings. Seeing the town. Its inhabitants. — Gambling- 
saloons. — We start for Sheyenne. — Description of hotel accom- 
modation. — A citizen shot by an officer. — Start for Elk Mountain. 
— Reach Willow Springs. — All Houston. — Camp at W T illow 
Springs. — Woodchoppers, bad characters. — Story about Houston. 
— Obliged to hunt singly. — We go together to hunt. — A deserted 
hut and grave of occupant. — A visitor. — Polly's behaviour. — 

F starts for Sheyenne. — Snowed in. — Villainous-looking 

visitors. They are induced to go. — Precautions. — F 's return. 

— I return to Sheyenne. — F goes to Virginia Dale . . . . 238 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Move to Virginia Dale. — Meet my old driver. — Stage drivers. — 
Abundance of antelope. — Reach Sheyenne. — Vigilance com- 
mittee. — Election for Mayor. — An unpleasant neighbour. Play a 
practical joke on him. — Life in Sheyenne. — Action of the Vigilance 
committee. — Stories of various desperadoes. — Joe Riley, the 
prize-fighter. — Racing at Sheyenne. — A railway quickly made. — 
Leave for England and sell " Polly." 254 



XIV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XX. 

PAGE 

Intend to go up the Wichita and Red Rivers. — Grouse-shooting. — 
Creasing a horse. — Poor settlers. — A money-lending parson. — 
Danger of Mexican cooks. — Henrietta in 1874. — A norther. — 
Rough cowboys. — Lose rny horse. — Return towards Henrietta. — 
Indians about. — A suspicious horseman.— Reach Henrietta. — The 
settlement raided by Black Kettle. — The settlers cowed. — A 
preacher. The preacher and I put up in the same room. The 
first night he scores ; the second I do. — Life of a cowboy. — A 
new class of cowboy. — A gentleman cowboy. — A good shooting- 
ground. — I shoot a puma. — A lucky sportsman . . . . . . 266 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Camp on Buffalo Creek. — Awful thunder-storms. — Two cowboys visit 
our camp. We return the visit. — Description of a shack. — 
Stories of attacks by Indians. — A buck-jumper. — A curious shot. 
— A refractory mare. — Loss of a horse. — A herd of wild horses. 
Old Bridger's opinion of them. — Camp nearly destroyed by fire. 
— Poisoning wild animals. — A ghost story . . . . . . . . 278 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Resolve to go to the Judith Basin. — Colonel P agrees to accompany 

me. — Start for Carroll. — Delay at Bismarck. — Have some shoot- 
ing. — Journey by steamer up Missouri. — Land to hunt every day. 
— Come upon an old hunter. His history and end. — The remaining 
Indians concerned in the Minnesota massacre. — Arrival at Buford. 
— Freak of a lieutenant. — Symonds joins me. — Start with Major 
Reed for Judith Basin.— The ways of Indian agents described. 

— Join Colonel P in camp. — Good news of game. — Adventure 

with a bear. — Description of the Judith Basin. — Hunting 
mountain-sheep. — Reed and Bowles at home.— Visit the Crows' 
camp. Go with them to meet the Bannocks. — Buy a horse from 
the Bannocks . „ , . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 



CONTENTS. XV 



chapter xxnr. 



A nice-tempered horse. — A large band of elk. — Putting out baits for 
bears. The first a failure. The second a success. — Buy a new 
pony. — A good bargain. — Fishel goes for letters. — Antelope- 
stalking. — A useless dog. — Fishel has his ponies stolen. He and I 
pay a visit to the Crow Indians. — A buffalo-run with the Crows. — 
The Indian game of " Hand. ' — A visit to the ranche. — Tendoi, 
the chief of the Bannocks. Stories of him. — Unpleasant quarters. 
— How Bowles got his wife .. .. .. .. .. .. 808 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Reed shoots a grizzly bear. — A splendid hunting-ground. — Wholesale 
massacre of deer. — The Colonel shoots a grizzly. I get one the 
next night. — Another bear. — Tendoi pays us a visit. His apprecia- 
tion of curry. — Suspicious tracks. — Horse-thieves. — Expedition 
to destroy them. — Horses stampeded. The cause. — Fishel and I 
go and see the Crow war-dance. — Crow sham fight.— Foolish 
freak of an Englishman. — The war-dance. Unpleasant reflections 
thereat 322 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Symonds leaves us. — I explore the Little Snowies. — Follow the trail 
of a grizzly. — Try to get back to camp. — A difficult road. — A 
fine view. — Plenty of game. — I enjoy a siesta. — An alarming 
awakening. — Peculiar rocks. — Mountain-sheep. — I bag a grizzly. 
— Good sport. — Meet a party of white men. — The Greenhorn. — 
Attempt to lasso the grey. — Indian attack defeated by Green- 
horn. — Stories of grizzlies. — Sheep-ranches . . . . . . 33' 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Visit Crazy Woman Mountains. — Difficult ravine. — Park-like country. 
— Narrow escape from a grizzly. — We make for the trade-road. — 
The end of my grey horse. — Some bragging hunters. — I part 



XVI CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



company from Colonel P and the men. — The stage waggon. 

— Dangers of stage-drivers. — A companion joins us. Queer story 
about him. I ride part of the way with him. — Arrival at Miles 
City. — I am offered quarters. Which I decline. — Call on General 
Miles. — Stories of General Miles. — I leave Fort Keogh with the 
General. — Rough Journey. — Yellowstone Kelly. — Arrival at Fort 
Abraham Lincoln. — Kindness of American officers. — Road agents. 
— -More anecdotes of General Miles. — Arrival at Chicago. — The 
present state of my old hunting-grounds. — Conclusion . . . . 348 






LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

^ He stopped about six feet from me and shook his fist . . . . Frontispiece 

Our hut in the Thickwood Hills 33 

v I drew my revolver and fired at him . . . . . . . . . . 91 

He removed his blanket, in spite of the rain, and wrapping the 

musket in it laid it down . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 

I was surprised to see a waggon on the bank . . . . . . . . 149 

l I fired at his chest 207 

v The Comanches made a rush at us . . . . . . . . . . 223 

My pony spun round so quickly . . . . . . . . . , . . 299 

I saw a row of shining copper-coloured faces . . . . . . . . 337 



SPOET AND ADVENTURES 



AMONG THE 



NORTH-AMERICAN INDIANS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Leave England. — Voyage and arrival at Quebec. — Proceed to Toronto and 
then to St. Paul's. — Threatened rising of the Sioux. Its causes. The 
storm hursts. — We start for Fort Carlton. — Description of journey. — 
Arrival at Fort Abercrombie. — Hostile Indians. — Reach Georgetown. — 
Attack on Fort Abercrombie. — Barbarity of the Indians. — Retreat in 
canoes. — Awful storm. — Arrival at Pembina. — Arrival at Fort Garry. — 
Our Guide and preparations to start. — "The early bird catches the 
worm." — A Red-River cart. — Leave Fort Garry. — Crossing the Sas- 
katchawan. — Arrival at Fort Carlton. — Fight between bloodhound and 
wolf.— I astonish the Indians. — A boxing-match. Its consequences. — 
Murder at council of Indians. Its results. 

I left Liverpool in June 1862, by the Allan line of steamers, 
for Quebec, choosing this route as it was the only one which 
would carry dogs, as I had a young bloodhound, a son of 
Grantley Berkeley's celebrated dog (C Druid," which I wished 
to try against wolves on the prairies. 

While in Liverpool I met two English gentlemen, also on 
their way to the West, and intending, like myself, to fit out at 



st. paul's, 



Fort Garry, on Lake Winnepeg, so we agreed to join company 

for so long as it suited us, and I will call them M and 

C in the following pages. 

The incidents of one passage are very much like another, so 
I will say very little of this one. We had the usnal hetero- 
geneous collection of passengers, and the usual sweepstakes 
each day as to the run of the ship, and also a rather unusual 
one, and that was, as to which foot the pilot would place on the 
deck first when he came on board, there being intense excite- 
ment when he stopped on the ladder to speak to the captain. 
The usual whales and icebergs were seen ; but nothing of any 
interest occurred till we reached Quebec, where we landed, 
having done the run in eleven days. 

We went to Russell's hotel and remained there two days, 
visiting the citadel, the heights of Abraham, &c, and left on 
the third day for Toronto, where we had some friends. 

From Toronto we did not stop again till we reached St. Paul's, 
now a city of more than four hundred thousand inhabitants; 
but then it was only a straggling town of four or five thousand, 
most of the houses being built of wood, and many of logs only. 
Here the railway then ended, and we had to travel by Bur- 
bank's coach to Georgetown, on the Red River, a distance of 
four hundred and twenty miles, where we should find a small 
steamer bound for Fort Garry. 

The scenery round St. Paul's is very fine, the city standing on 
the banks of the Mississippi River, which are here about two 
hundred feet high, and the country round being hilly and beauti- 
fully wooded, and containing some of the loveliest lakes in the 
world, surrounded by woods, and so clear that you can see the 
pebbles distinctly at a depth of twenty-five or thirty feet. 



RISING OF THE SIOUX. 6 

We found a good deal of excitement in the town, as it was 
threatened by the Sioux Indians, nnder " Little Crow," who 
thought themselves wronged by their agent, and had begun 
what ended in the Minnesota massacre. It seems that the 
Sioux had come in to get their yearly supplies of blankets, 
ammunition, &c, from the Government, and found that only 
a portion of these having come, the agent refused to serve out 
anything till the arrival of the remainder. The Indians had 
only brought food for so many days and were soon on the 
verge of starvation, when one day there drove up to the agent's 
house a waggon drawn by four span of very fine fat oxen. 
A number of half-starved Indians were standing round, and 
one of them felt the oxen with his finger, remarking to his 
companions what a grand feast they would make. On this 
the driver hit him with his whip, and was at once shot dead 
by the Indian, and within five minutes the agent and his 
family were all murdered. This was the last straw only, as 
the Indians had had a good deal to complain of before this 
happened. They all immediately disappeared to mature their 
plans, and there was a lull which preceded the awful storm 
which broke soon afterwards. This had happened before our 
arrival, and all who could do so had left St. Paul's, expecting 
it to be attacked at any moment. 

It turned out afterwards that what had delayed the outbreak 
was the fact that " Hole-in-the-day/' the great Chippewa chief, 
had not been able to join the Sioux, and his tribe refused to 
rise without him. He had come into the town to buy ammu- 
nition, and had been seized and put in jail, where he remained 
till the whole thing was over, and his tribe, living all round 
St. Paul's, had prevented the town being attacked. 

b2 



4 STAllT FOR FORT CARLTON. 

We found here about thirty Englishmen, who, having been 
tempted by a bubble company to subscribe forty pounds apiece 
on the understanding that they should be transported to the 
gold mines of British Columbia, had been cast adrift here, most 
of them without money, and we found them sweeping the streets, 
chopping wood, and doing any work they could find, some of 
them being broken-down gentlemen, and none of them ever 
having done any manual labour before. 

In spite of much good advice as to the danger of proceeding 
any further, we took our places in the express waggon — a four- 
horse coach — which made the journey between St. Paul's and 
Georgetown once a week, stopping for the night at small log 
stage stations, where the accommodation and food were both 
very rough, the latter being almost invariably pork and corn 
bread, with very bad coffee. The first portion of the drive 
was through a very pretty country, and, as the driver let us 
get out now and then to shoot grouse and ducks, the time 
passed very quickly. There was, however, the chance that the 
Indians might attack us at any moment; so that the front 
seat of the waggon was a complete armoury, the driver having 
a revolver and a rifle beside him, and the conductor, who sat 
behind, being armed in the same way. The conveyance itself 
was like a long waggon, with three cushioned seats across it, 
hung on leather straps, which were very long, and caused it 
to sway a good deal from side to side, the whole having a 
cover on " bows," which could be rolled up ; the luggage 
being placed behind, where there was also a small seat for 
the conductor. The teams were very good indeed, but often 
quite new to the work, and unused to being driven four-in- 
hand, so that sometimes they would run away, and we flew 



ATTACK ON FORT ABERCROMBIE. D 

along over the prairie, the driver whipping instead of trying 
to stop them ; the ground being so level that they were 
invariably tired before we came to a bad bit of ground. 
After leaving the woods and getting on the prairies the 
journey became very monotonous, the only houses we came 
across being the one where we dined, and our night's halting- 
place. 

At about one hundred and twenty miles from Georgetown 
we stopped for the night at Fort Abercrombie — a two-company 
post, where the soldiers were almost all of them Germans. Of 
course, the whole conversation here was about Indians, and 
they were expecting an attack, Indian scouts having been 
seen on the surrounding hills for some days. The officer in 
command was somewhat doubtful of the courage of his men, 
most of them being recruits ; but he had strengthened the 
defences, and had placed two small guns in position. 

On the second day from the Fort we reached Georgetown, a 
very small place, of some ten or twelve log houses and a large 
stage station, which we found almost deserted by all but the 
stage agent and his men, all the settlers having gone down the 
Red River in flat boats, as some Indians had been seen in the 
neighbourhood. The stage agent— a very plucky fellow — 
declared that he would remain alone, if necessary, and 
defend the company's property, and we offered to remain 
and help him, but circumstances rendered this unnecessary. 

The day after our arrival came the news of the attack on 
Fort Abercrombie and of the massacre of a number of settlers 
throughout Minnesota. It seems that the commanding 
officer's fears about the courage of his men were justified ; 
for when the Indians made a rush at the place, they retreated 



6 RETREAT IN CANOES. 

into a block-house, which stood in the middle of the fort, and 
was meant to be used only in the last extremity, and out of 
this they refused to come, till the officers and a few American 
soldiers drove them out with their revolvers; the place being 
saved by the two guns, which frightened the Indians by the 
noise they made. Some of the settlers had been murdered 
under circumstances of awful barbarity, and one poor woman 
crawled seven miles into Fort Abercrombie with her nose, 
ears, and both breasts cut off. ♦ 

On the morning of the second day from our arrival at the 
station, orders came from the company at St. Paul's for the 
agent to close the station, and make his way to the nearest 
town with the horses, and we heard, just before leaving, that 
the coach immediately following the one by which we had come 
had been attacked by Indians, and the conductor killed, the 
mails being thrown into the Red River. This made our staying 
at the station any longer an impossibility ; so finding that the 
steamboat which usually ran between this place and Fort Garry 
had ceased to do so, owing to the unsafe state of the country, 
we bought two bark canoes, and, laying in some provisions, 
we started for a four hundred mile paddle down one of the 
most crooked and, I should say, muddiest streams in the 
world ; there being hardly a place on its banks where you 
could land without sinking to your knees in black mud. 

Canoe travelling was a new experience to all of us, and we 
were very nearly upsetting a great many times, as the canoes 
were round-bottomed and very light. At the time I am speak- 
ing of, the banks of the Red River were entirely uninhabited, 
and the course of it is mostly through vast prairies, making it 
very monotonous, especially as we often paddled for an hour 



AWFUL STORM. 7 

and more, only to find ourselves within a few hundred yards 
of where we started from, the river having wound in almost a 
complete circle. For some days nothing of any consequence 
happened. We saw a few antelope and might have stalked 
them, but we were afraid to fire; so we lived on pork and 
coffee : the weather was fine ; but about the fifth day we had 
an awful thunder-storm, such as none of us had ever seen. 
It came on at night, just as we were going to camp, and the 
rain came down in such sheets that, having no tent, we sat 
where we were and baled out the water, or we should have 
sunk. The thunder seemed just overhead, and the lightning 
was all but incessant and lasted till nearly morning, when we 
landed and waded through the mud to higher ground, where 
we wrung the water from our blankets and went to sleep. 
In the morning the sun came out and nearly dried our clothes, 
when a second storm came on and soaked everything again, 
and we had another miserable night on the same spot. The 
second day was fine, so we started again, feeling very miserable. 
All our baggage was damp, and our guns one mass of rust ; 
our hands, too, being unused to paddling, were very much 
blistered. We struggled on, however, and about the nmtn 
day reached Pembina, a small settlement with a custom- 
house, it being on the frontier between Canada and the United 
States. 

We found the place deserted by everyone but the United 
States' custom-house agent, who had sent away his family, and 
had fortified the upper storey of his house, destroying the stair- 
case, and going up and down by means of a ladder at a window, 
drawing it up at night. He had a bed covered with weapons, 
with the ammunition for each lying beside it, and would, no 



8 PEMBINA AND PORT GARRY. 

doubt, have sold his life dearly ; but I am glad to say that he 
was not attacked, and was still at his post when the place was 
visited by the troops, who left a garrison there. 

Soon after leaving Pembina we were very glad to meet with 
the steamer, which had come as far as this and was waiting for 
news, and now, on hearing what had happened, the captain 
decided on turning back and remaining at the fort till all was 
quiet once more. 

Fort Garry was then a long straggling settlement, of about 
three thousand inhabitants, extending some ten miles up the 
Red River and about the same distance up the Assineboine 
River, the fort being built at the junction of the two. Most of 
the inhabitants were half-breeds, many of whom were married 
to Indian wives ; so that the place was a curious mixture of an 
Indian camp and a white settlement, the wives' relations being 
very often camped round the houses of half-breeds. There was 
no hotel of any kind; so we put up a tent, which we bought, 
in the garden of one of the principal half-breeds, who had 
been recommended to us as a guide. This man's name was 
Louis Laronde, and he was considered the best guide and snow- 
shoe walker, as well as the strongest man, in the settlement. 

For several days we were very busy engaging men and in 
buying horses, there being a good deal of competition among 
us as to who should have the best ; and I remember that I got 
up once in the middle of the night and rode nearly forty miles 
to buy a horse, which was said to be the fastest in the settle- 
ment. We had all heard of him, but kept it to ourselves, as 
each one meant to get up early the next morning and go and 
buy him ; but by that time I had him tied close to the tent 
door. 



A RED -RIVER CART. 9 

In the evenings we went to some half-breed balls, and found 
many of the women were very handsome, chiefly those who 
were the children of half-breeds, with no more admixture of 
Indian blood. Anywhere else you would have taken them for 
Spaniards ; the only thing which spoiled them was their hair, 
which was always very straight and coarse. 

At last our outfit was ready. We had two ponies apiece and 
three small carts between us, each drawn by a single ox, as we 
had been told that they went better through mud than ponies. 
Each cart contained a thousand pounds' weight ; and the way 
in which the loads were adjusted was somewhat unusual, Laronde 
getting under the axle on his hands and knees, and raising the 
whole thing off the ground. We soon found that we had made 
a mistake in taking oxen, as they only did a mile and a halt 
an hour, and riding with the carts was simply purgatory ; so we 
exchanged them for ponies before we got out of the settlement. 

A Red- River cart is an extraordinary structure; it stands 
on two wheels, and is made without a single piece of iron in its 
whole composition ; the wheels have no tyres, and the felloes 
are fastened on with wooden wedges. The axles are of wood, 
and two spare ones are carried by each cart, as they wear out 
quickly; and there being no boxes to the wheels, I leave my 
readers to imagine the noise they make, this pleasant music 
being audible for miles. 

When once out of Fort Garry, we passed very few houses, 
and those only during the first thirty miles, when they ceased 
altogether, and an undulating prairie country was spread out 
on all sides of us. Scattered over this were an immense number 
of ponds, some of them almost deserving the name of lakes, and 
these were always covered with geese and ducks, while snipe 



10 CROSSING THE SASKATCHAWAN. 

could generally be found round their edges, and you now and 
then put up a few swans, affording splendid sport, and making 
a very pleasant change from everlasting ham, which was 
the only kind of preserved meat which we could get at Fort 
Garry. 

Wolves were very common, one or more being generally in 
sight, and we had many chases after them with the blood- 
hound, but, as he was young, he never did anything. When 
after the wolves one day, I had a very nasty fall. I was going 
down a hill at full speed, when my pony put his foot in a hole, 
and over we went, describing, as it seemed to me, at least three 
summersaults, and, as I was carrying a heavy ten-bore gun by a 
strap on my back, each time I turned over the gun hit me on 
the back of the head, raising a bump as big as an eg^j and 
obliging me to sit some minutes before I could take m the 
situation and find out which way to ride home again. 

We saw no big game, except wolves, till near Fort Carlton, 
when we made out a band of antelope with a glass, and one elk, 
which was, however, on the other side of the Saskatchawan, at 
a place where we could not cross. 

Our first trouble was crossing the south fork of this river, 
the stream being swift and deep and about eighty yards wide. 
The carts being constructed entirely of wood formed a good 
raft, and as they were loosely made, we had only to remove the 
bottom boards and arrange them as a platform on the sides, 
and towing this over with a long rope, everything was got over 
safely ; but when it came to the horses, we had some trouble, 
most of them refusing to enter the water ; so that we had to 
drag them down and push them in, keeping them from landing 
again by pelting them with stones, and in this manner we 



ARRIVAL AT FORT CARLTON. 11 

managed to get them over to the other side, swimming over 
ourselves. From where we crossed the river to Fort Carlton 
was twenty miles, and we reached it safely. We found it to 
be a square stockade, about twenty feet high, having a bastion 
at each corner, while all round the inside ran a platform, some 
five feet from the top, to enable the defenders to fire upon any 
assailants. 

There were small guns in the fort, but more for show than 

use. Mr. L , a Scotchman, was in charge, and received us 

very hospitably. He put us all up, and our animals were turned 
out with the fort herd. We had piles of buffalo robes as beds 
and found them very comfortable, spreading our own blankets 
on the top. 

We remained here a few days to recruit ourselves after our 
long ride, which had been made more tedious by the slow pace 
at which we had been obliged to travel so as to keep with the 
carts, as there was always the chance of an attack by Indians. 

My bloodhound had as yet been of no use, and I began to 
fear that he had no pluck, as he would not face the sleigh-dogs 
at the fort, always keeping close at my heels when we went out 
and never leaving the house by himself. These sleigh-dogs 
were large animals, many of them being as heavy as he was, and 
numbered about a hundred. They had nothing to do in the 
summer, but took the place of the horses when the snow had 
fallen. They were of every colour and size, and were chiefly 
bred from Indian dogs crossed with Esquimaux, and any looks 
they might have had were spoilt by cutting off their tails, which 
got in the way of their harness. 

Hearing one day that the sleigh-dogs had a wolf at bay in 
a bush near the fort, I took my bloodhound out and, driving off 



12 A SCOTCH CLERK. 

the other dogs, I let him go, when he at once rnshed in and 
closed with the wolf, and for some time it was doubtful which 
would get the best of it, till the hound getting a chance seized 
the wolf by the throat and very soon killed him. 

While we were at Fort Carlton we frequently had shooting 
matches, some Indians who had come in to trade shooting with 
us ; and when coming back to the fort one day, with a double 
rifle in my hand, which I wished to fire off, I saw a crow comic g 
over my head and fired at it, and no one was more astonished 
than I was when it fell dead, and from that day, as I firmly 
refused to waste any more ammunition on crows, I found that 
I had gained a wonderful reputation as a shot among the 
Indians — hearing of what I had done many months afterwards 
in an Indian camp. 

We found at the " Post " — as all forts are usually called — a 
Scotchman named Alexander, who having tried a great many 
things and failed at all of them, had ended by becoming a 
Hudson's Bay Company's clerk, at twenty-four pounds a year 
and his food. Having some relics of his departed greatness yet 
with him, he went about in an old velvet dressing-jacket, bound 
with gold cord, with a cap of the same material on his head, 
and being a fine man and very handsome, he looked quite 
imposing and was the admiration of all the squaws. 

One day I heard a story of him, which is worth inserting 
here. It seems that the Sioux and Cree Indians wished to 
make peace, and it had been arranged that they should do so at 
the Post. Accordingly the Sioux chief " White Cloud " arrived 
with seventeen warriors and camped outside the stockade, the 
Crees having also sent a deputation to meet him, and while the 
preparations were being completed, " White Cloud " — who was 



A BOXING-MATCH. 13 

a splendidly-made Indian, standing over six feet in his mocca- 
sins, with a really fine face — almost lived in the fort. He was 
one day in Alexander's room, when the latter took up some 
boxing-gloves and put them on, telling " White Cloud " 
that these were the things with which the white man learned 
to fight, asking the chief if he would like to put them on. 
" White Cloud " of course had no idea of what would happen ; 
for Indians never hit with the hands, and to hit one of them is 
to insult him most grossly. " White Cloud " said he should 
like to try them ; so Alexander first took away his knife and 
pistol and locked them up ; then putting him in the middle of 
the room and telling him to stand on his guard, he knocked 
him to the other end of it, and on his rising and rushing at 
Alexander, he was again sent to the same place. His rage, 
I was told, more resembled madness, and, tearing off the 
gloves, he tried to get his knife from the drawer ; but finding 
it locked, he suddenly calmed down, or seemed to do so, and 
demanded to be let out. Alexander asked him what he would 
do when outside, when " White Cloud " told him that he 
and his men would instantly attack the fort and kill everyone 
in it. 

Seeing that only desperate measures would have a chance of 
succeeding here, Alexander took a revolver from a drawer, and 
told the chief that unless he promised, within five minutes, to 
give up his intention and make friends, he would shoot him and 
chance what came of it. For some minutes " White Cloud " 
was obstinate, and then seeing that Alexander meant w r hat he 
said, and being somewhat tempted by some presents which were 
promised him, he shook hands and, receiving his pistol and 
knife, left the room, carrying with him two bottles of whiskey, 



14 " WHITE CLOUD." 

for which an Indian will do anything, and which they have 
no means of getting in the Hudson's Bay territories, as they 
forbid its sale to the Indians. Though never friendly again 
with Alexander, the chief kept his word, and no harm resulted 
from this foolish joke. 

This chief showed me sometime afterwards some fourteen or 
fifteen wounds which he had received in battle, most of them 
being from knives and arrows, leading his followers to believe 
that he could not be killed. In consequence of this and of his 
great courage and strength, his authority over them, even in 
time of peace, was something wonderful. On one occasion his 
men were in the Post and had been giving a good deal of 

trouble by quarrelling with the employes, when Mr. L 

went to " White Cloud " and asked him to order them out. 
He went at once out into the yard in front of the Post and 
blew his war whistle, and when his men came running out 
of the different houses, he simply pointed to the gate in an 
imperious way, and they were all out in a moment. Happen- 
ing to go into the kitchen soon afterwards, he found one of 
his men eating a meal which the cook had given him, on which 
he picked up a log of wood and knocked him down senseless, 
remarking that he hoped he had killed him, and this man, when 
he recovered from the blow, seemed to owe him no grudge. 

Mr. L told me that when the meeting took place at 

which peace was to be made, what was intended for a friendly 
meeting very nearly ended in a fight. It seems that a Cree 
warrior, who was not among the number admitted into the 
council lodge, owed one of the Sioux a grudge ; so, first ascer- 
taining whereabouts he sat, and finding that his back was only 
a few inches from the skin of the lodge, he stabbed him in the 



SUMMARY PUNISHMENT. 15 

back from the outside. Of course, there was immediately 
an uproar, the Sioux thinking that they would at once be 
murdered, as the Crees outnumbered them ten to one; but 
the Cree chief rushed to the door of the lodge and stood in 
front of it, barring the way, and ordered the murderer to be 
brought to him at once, and on his appearance, and when he 
had owned to the deed, he brained him with his tomahawk 
on the spot. 

Such acts as these occur very seldom among what are called 
" Wild Indians," though when semi-civilized they are heard of 
frequently. 



16 SWIMMING HORSES. 



CHAPTER II. 

Leave Fort Carlton. — Swimming horses. — Our first buffalo. — Laronde's 
method of killing* buffalo. — Our first meeting with wild Indians. — 
Attempt to stalk antelope. — Immense herds of buffalo.— A run with 
buffaloes. — I run down a wolf. — Sudden appearance of three Indians. — 
An unpleasant adventure. — A night in an Indian lodge. — Eejoin my 
companions. — The advantages of steel hobbles. — Studying a buffalo 
at close quarters. — Prairie-dogs. — Return to Fort Carlton. — Our Party 
breaks up. — I leave for Thickwood Hills. — Sleigh-dogs. 

After remaining at Fort Carlton five or six days, we started 
once more, going south, intending to cross the south branch of 
the Saskatchawan River, and hunt between that and the 
Missouri in the neighbourhood of the Milk River. Crossing 
was as troublesome as before, a new horse we had bought 
utterly refusing to swim at all, so that after we got him in, 
he was carried down by the stream, and had he not reached a 
sand-bar, he must have been drowned. As it was we had to 
make a small raft and tow him across, holding his head above 
water. 

One of my horses was so fond of swimming that I had to 
watch him when I took him to drink, or he would jump in 



OUR FIRST BUFFALO. 17 

and swim, and more than once lie wetted all I had on him by 
doing so. 

The first buffalo we met with was a great excitement to us 
all, though he was a miserable old fellow whom we would not 
have touched a week later. All the large herds had been 
driven south that summer, and many solitary old bulls had 
been left behind as worthless, this being one of them. 

We had started early in the morning, having found fresh 
buffalo sign, and were all of us mounted on our best horses, 
meaning to have a struggle for first blood. My horse was the 

fastest, but M had one nearly as fast, and an old hand at 

the work, knowing as much about it as any man. This horse, 
having been carefully trained by Laronde, knew exactly the 
position to take up when chasing a buffalo, ranging up close to 
him on the off side, with his head opposite to the buffalo's 
quarters, so that when the animal charged he passed behind 
him to the left, and the buffalo had to turn completely round 
to follow him, by which time the horse was safe. We came 
on this bull suddenly on riding over some rising ground, and 
were not more than 200 yards from him. We were none 
of us ready, our guns being slung on our backs, but away we 
went helter-skelter, each man doing his best and getting 
his gun ready for action. I had a double ten- bore shot- 
gun, a muzzle-loader, and I do not suppose I could have had 
a worse weapon for the purpose; but breech-loaders were 
only just then coming into use, and the only one I had was 
a new one, and I did not like to risk it over rough ground. 

M had a 16-bore breech- loading gun, carrying ball, and 

C a single breech-loading rifle. 

For the first quarter of a mile we were nearly neck and neck, 



18 T0NGU1NG A BUFFALO. 

and then my horse began to forge ahead, and I saw that I 
shonld have the first shot. I was soon alongside (for a good 
horse can very soon overhaul a buffalo) and fired, aiming well 
forward as I had been told to do, missing him clean and cutting 
up the dust in front of him. I was now a little in front of 
the bull, which putting his tail up charged me, and for a few 
seconds seemed to be awfully near, I climbing on the front 
of the saddle, as all " tenderfeet " do under such circum- 
stances, having the idea that I was getting faster out of the 
animal's reach. As I got away and tried to turn my horse 

for a second shot, I saw M range up and fire, hitting 

the buffalo, which stumbled and stood still for a moment, and 

then seeing C- close to him he made a desperate rush at 

him, and the two disappeared over a rise in the prairie, it 
seemed to me within three feet of one another. 

On regaining control of my horse, I rode after them and 

found M and C standing over the bull, which it seems 

M ■ had killed, and we decided that as he was old and thin, 

we would only take the tongue, this being always good eating. 
We had not been shown how to do this, so we supposed it 
was done from the mouth, and with great trouble we prized 
the jaws open, putting a wooden stirrup to keep them so, and 
then pulled at the tongue, only succeeding in getting about three 
quarters of it, and even this very much hacked about; the 
proper way being to set the animal's head nose in the air, by 
sticking the horns in the ground, and then to cut the skin from 
the under side of the jaw and take the tongue out from below, 
and in this way it is very easily done. 

We found no more buffalo that day, but we got Laronde to 
go with us on the morrow, and soon came across a small band 



METHOD OF KILLING BUFFALO. 19 

of five cows and two calves. Laronde went on ahead of us, as 
we had slower horses than the day before, and he had his old 

horse, which M had ridden on the previous day, and before 

we could come up with him he had four buffaloes down, three 
cows and a calf, and yet he was using a single muzzle-loading 
flint-lock gun, called a trade gun, and costing in London 
seven and sixpence. His plan was as follows : — The powder 
was in a bag carried on his belt and the bullets were in his 
mouth. He would put in half a handful of powder, and then 
drop in a wet ball, giving the gun a slap, to drive the ball 
home and the powder into the enormous pan, when he would 
lower the gun and fire at once, the muzzle being within a foot 
of the buffalo; ard aiming just under the spine at the small 
of the back, the animal was down at once and could not rise 

again. I got one of the calves and C another cow. 

M '& horse behaved badly and would not stand fire. 

We should not have killed so many had we not been close to 
a camp of Crees, to whom we gave the meat and they gave us 
in exchange two wolf-skins. These were the first Indians that 
I had a good opportunity of seeing close, and I came to the 
conclusion that they were much better when not seen too near. 

M and I slept in a lodge one night, and we had to work 

hard to rid ourselves of the consequences. 

One morning a small band of antelopes came near camp, and 

while they were examining it very curiously, not having our 

wind, C and I crept out and tried to stalk them. It was 

a bare prairie, but there were hollows here and there, deep 

enough to hide us, and with infinite trouble and much loss of 

skin from our knees (the prairie having been burnt in the 

spring and consequently covered with sharp stubs) we got 

c2 



20 IMMENSE HERDS OF BUFFALOES. 

within about two "hundred yards. Here we pulled up some 
grass which we stuck in our hat-bands, and held up some in 
our hands in the form of a fan, and in this way we made 
another fifty yards, when seeing the antelope were beginning 
to get suspicious, we both of us fired, the only result being that 
something seemed to fall from one of them, and on reaching 
the spot we found a straight line of white hair, the only 

explanation of which was that the antelope C fired at, 

having stood broadside to him, he must have made a very bad 
shot, and his bullet grazed the animal behind, where he is 
covered with white hair, and cut off a line of it. I had made 
a clean miss, I suppose from excitement. 

For some days we saw only scattered buffaloes, but as we 
approached the Missouri they were in good sized bands, and 
towards evening one day, we saw an immense number of them 
in the distance. It being too late to do much that day, we 
camped, and busied ourselves all the evening in getting things 
ready for a run on the following morning. 

Laronde gave us a great deal of advice as to how we ought 
to behave under all imaginable circumstances, but in the 
excitement of a run, who can think of all this ? and it would 
not be half so much fun if you could remember all your 
instructions ; the getting into scrapes and out of them in your 
own way being the best part of it. 

Early the next morning we were off, M and C armed 

as they were before, but I carried my twelve-bore breech-loader, 
having found it impossible to load the other gun on horseback 
without pulling up. The herd was where we had seen it on 
the previous evening, and by reconnoitring from a high mound 
we found a small ravine, and riding down it we got within 



A RUN WITH BUFFALOES. 21 

about four hundred yards of the " pickets/' as we called the 
old fellows, who were on all the high ground and were evidently 
guarding the herd. 

As there was no further cover we came out of the ravine, 
and made for the buffaloes at a sharp gallop ; they allowed us 
to get a hundred yards nearer, and then went off at what looked 
like a clumsy canter, but was really a pretty good pace. A 
race of a mile laid us alongside of the hindermost, but we were 
riding that day to get into the herd and see how they looked 
at close quarters, so urging our horses to do their best, and 
shouting to clear a road, into the middle of the mass we went, 
it being rather nervous work, as they could not scatter much 
at once, the outside of the herd not knowing what the matter 
was on account of the dust, which was awful. After being 
among them for some minutes the panic seemed to spread, and 
the mass scattered right and left, going off in two bands, and 
we pulled up and let them go, as we had plenty of meat in 
camp and did not come out to kill. I think this was the most 
exciting gallop I ever had, being my first, and not knowing 
how the animals might behave. It is curious to watch the tail 
of a buffalo while you are running him. It hangs down when 
you start and remains so for perhaps half a mile, then it begins 
to rise in the air by a series of little jerks, and when it is erect 
and the end begins to shake the head will go down, and he is 
going to charge, in which case, after running from him for 
thirty or forty yards, if you turn off at right angles, he will 
almost invariably go straight on and leave you. 

C was once chased for more than a mile by an infuriated 

bull, as his pony was slow and only just able to keep ahead of 
the bull. 



22 A WOLF RUN DOWN. 

As Laronde told me that my horse had run into a wolf on 
the open prairie, I determined to try and do it again ; so I 
started alone one day and tried all the high grass I could find, 
but saw no wolves, but as I was going back to camp one came 
on to the top of a ridge close to me, not knowing that I was so 
near, so I put my horse to his best and raced after him ; I did 
not gain a yard during the first mile, but went gradually up to 
him in the second, and after he had thrown me out twice by 
turning suddenly, I rode right over him, and fired as I passed, 
hitting him and wounding him slightly, but I caught him very 
easily the second time and killed him. This sort of thing does 
not answer, however, when your horses are doing hard work 
and have no food but grass, so I did not do it again. 

I tried the bloodhound several times after wolves, but he only 
caught one, and then we were not with him, as he had worn us 
all out and run away from us. He came back, however, in the 
evening with his jaws covered with blood and with marks of 
bites on him, so altogether he was a failure, especially as 
he hated the very sight of an Indian, and had to be tied up 
when any were in camp or he would have attacked them at 
once. 

One evening we were startled by the arrival of three Indians 
in camp. It was getting dark, but we had not yet put on our 
first guard, so they took us entirely by surprise, coming in on 
foot so quietly that no one saw them till they were standing by 
the fire. They were apparently Assineboines, but had Sioux 
moccasins ; these have a raw hide sole, while the Crees and 
Assineboines make theirs without a separate sole, the same 
leather going all round. They told us that they had lost their 
way, and seeing the fire had come to it. This was an utterly 



AN UNPLEASANT ADVENTURE. 23 

impossible story, and no one looking at their villainous faces 
would have believed that they did not come for some bad pur- 
pose. Their being on foot, too, was a very suspicious circum- 
stance, as an Indian never vralks on the prairie, unless he is 
going to steal a horse. 

After they had had some supper they said they would go, 
but this our guide would not permit, telling them that they 
must remain till morning, and if they tried to go before then 
they would be shot, so they remained very unwillingly and lay 
by the fire all night. Had we let them go, they would probably 
have visited us again before morning, and have tried to run off 
our horses. 

I had one unpleasant adventure before the end of the summer ; 
I had been running buffalo, and had killed two old bulls after 
a very long run, during which I had turned so many times, that 
when I had taken the tongues I found I did not know the way 
back to camp. It was beginning to get dark as I took the 
second tongue, and I at once started in the direction in which 
I thought the camp was, but I had not ridden far when a snow- 
storm came on, making my chance of finding camp very doubt- 
ful. However, I rode on for about an hour, when I was wet 
through, and so cold that 1 had to get off and lead my pony. 

For some miles I trudged on, firing my gun every now and 
then and stopping to listen for an answering shot ; but hearing 
nothing, and as my pony was tired, I thought I would light a fire 
and remain by it until the morning, so at the next willow bushes 
I came to, I cut some of the driest-looking of them, and striking 
a match tried to light a fire ; but everything was very wet and 
would not burn, so after I had struck some twenty matches 
without avail, I gave it up, and started again, firing occasionally 



24 SHELTERED BY INDIANS. 

till the priming of my gun got wet and it would not go off, 
when I had to content myself with shouting. As I was passing 
under a small hill I fancied my shouts were answered, and on 
looking up, I could, very indistinctly, make out some white 
figures standing on the top of it, and I at first thought it might 
be my companions, but on getting near I saw it was a party of 
about ten Indians, who beckoned me to follow them to some 
tents, which I now saw on the opposite side of the hill. They 
might have been " hostiles " for all I knew, but it was too late 
to go back, so I walked down after them, and giving my pony 
to an Indian, I went into one of the tents, being so miserable 
that I did not much care who they were, so long as I could get 
near a fire and have something to eat. 

About twenty more Indians came in to have a look at me, 
and all of them shook hands, which was a good sign. I was 
given a big plateful of boiled buffalo-meat and some tea, and 
soon felt much better. I then made signs that I wished to 
change my clothes, which were soaking wet, and put on a 
blanket, and that the women had better go out while I did so, 
on which they all laughed, and the women crowded round and 
helped me to undress, pinching and slapping me when they 
had done so. They gave me a buffalo robe and blanket, which 
latter I put on Indian fashion, and felt almost one of them- 
selves. 

I soon turned in, hoping to have a good night, or rather 
morning, for it was now nearly five a.m. But alas ! for the 
plans of mice and men ! I had not quite gone off to sleep when 
I began to feel something biting me, and this feeling spread till 
I fancied I must be on fire, so I jumped up and found that it 
was only the usual inhabitants of an Indian's buffalo robe 



A NIGHT IN AN INDIAN LODGE. 25 

feasting on something softer than they usually got. On my 
telling the Indians what the matter was they laughed, and said 
I should soon get used to it ; but not believing this I got up 
and put on some of my half-dried garments, and lay down 
again thinking that now my troubles were over, instead of 
which they were only beginning. 

There are some few peculiarities about an Indian camp 
which very much interfere with the repose of anyone who is 
not used to them. The first thing which woke me once more 
was the pressure of the feet of some animals passing over me ; 
then came a number of others of the same kind, and these 
seemed to go round and round the tent. It struck me 
almost immediately that they were dogs hunting for scraps, so 
I pulled my robe closer round me and dosed off again. Pre- 
sently, however, I heard a yell followed by a rush, and the dogs 
passed over me again, followed by a furious squaw, whose big 
flat feet were not at all particular where they trod ; and this 
happened several times till I felt as if I was lying in the sawdust 
of a circus, with the whole performance going on on the top of 
me. I moved at once, getting as close to the side of the lodge 
as I could, or I should have been flattened out, squaws as a rule 
being very clumsy and heavy. What made the chase last so 
long was the difficulty of finding the door, which was small, 
and as it was dark outside, did not show at all. 

On the departure of the dogs, I thought I should have peace, 
but I was mistaken ; the noise had woke up an Indian, who 
fancied that he could, with an effort, eat a little more, so he 
proceeded to get up and cook some meat on the fire in the 
centre of the lodge, and thinking he had a fine voice which 
should be cultivated, he sang all the time. This roused a 



26 REJOIN MY COMPANIONS. 

second Indian to do the same thing, and it was almost 
morning when I really got off to sleep. 

Sometimes there are other pleasant surprises for the visitor 
to a lodge, such as a disconsolate widow, going round the camp 
bewailing her lost husband, which she is supposed to do for six 
months, unless she gets another in the meantime. He may 
have beaten her every day with a lodge-pole, and she may have 
been delighted to have got rid of him, but she must nevertheless 
go through this performance, and it is always done at night. 
Then, too, some Indian often gets up and sings for an hour or 
more, beating an accompaniment on a tom-tom, and no one 
thinks of sending for a policeman or of shooting him, as would 
seem natural. 

In the morning five or six of the Indians mounted and rode 
with me, seeming to know where our camp must be, from being 
acquainted with all the water-holes in the country, most of the 
small streams being now dry, and within an hour we met three 
of our men coming to hunt for me. 

The Indians accompanied us to camp, from which I had been 
distant only about four miles, where I made them a number of 
presents and they left apparently very contented ; but I met 
some of them afterwards at Fort Carlton, where they calmly 
informed me that for several days after seeing me to camp 
they had followed us, meaning to steal our horses, and said that 
they would have had them if a snowstorm had not hidden our 
tracks, so that they lost us. They owned that we kept very 
good guard, as they had lain and watched us for hours hoping 
for a chance, but did not get one, as we brought the horses in 
before dark and tied them to the waggon. 

I had brought steel hobbles with me from England to lock on 



WATCHING A LIVE BUFFALO. 27 

at night made of case-hardened iron, and these, on one occasion, 
gave me a great deal of trouble. Seeing great quantities of 
ducks in some ponds near camp, one of my companions and I 
had our horses left for us, the waggon going on, and remained 
to have a day's duck-shooting. We had capital sport and 
returned to camp loaded, to find that my horse had been left 
with the hobbles on, while the key had gone on with the 
waggon. We tried breaking them with a stone, but found it 
to be impossible, as we could not get a good blow at them ; so 
I had to wait with the horse till far into the night, while my 
companion rode after the waggon, nearly twenty miles, and 
sent one of the men back with the key. 

Soon after this we returned to Fort Carlton, only one inci- 
dent worth relating occurring on the way. I had run an old 
bull some little distance, when we came to a narrow " groove " 
in the prairie, looking almost like an old watercourse, and when 
the buffalo went down this I remained on the bank above, 
keeping parallel with him. After going a few hundred yards, 
the hollow came to an abrupt end, forming a perfect cul- 
de-sac, the banks being about ten feet high and quite 
perpendicular. Here I got off my horse, and sitting on the 
edge pelted the bull with earth ; and he kept rushing at the 
bank, bringing down at each charge showers of dust and 
stones. It was a splendid opportunity for watching a live 
buffalo at close quarters, and I remained there and ate my 
lunch, after which I rode off and left him. 

In this part of the country there were immense numbers of 
prairie-dogs, whose towns extend sometimes for thirty or forty 
miles, and make the prairie very unsafe to ride over on account 
of their numerous burrows. They are very amusing little 



28 SLEIGH-DOGS. 

fellows, and barked at us and shook themselves as if in a 
furious rage at our trespassing on their territories ; and dived 
down into their holes the instant we came too near. They are 
so quick that they can duck at the flash of a gun without being 
hit by the shot, and we only got one, though we often fired 
at them. A friend of mine, an officer in the American Army, 
drowned some out by pouring water into their holes, but then 
he had about a hundred soldiers to help him. 

On reaching Fort Carlton our party broke up, my com- 
panions going forty miles north of the Fort, where they put up 
a cabin, while I engaged a half-breed, named Badger, and his 
wife, and started for the Thickwood Hills, about ninety miles 
North-west of Fort Carlton, where I intended to pass the 

winter. Mr. L kindly allowed us to buy winter supplies 

at the Fort, it being the rule that nothing but furs should be 
received in exchange for supplies. Everything is valued at so 
many skins per pound or yard, as the case may be ; the skin 
referred to being that of a beaver, which is here valued at two 
shillings, all more valuable furs being worth so many beaver. 

Before leaving the Post, I bought the best team of sleigh- 
dogs they had there, giving a double rifle in exchange for them, 
and I also got a second team, paying for them in money. 

When winter has once set in in these regions, horses are 
useless, the snow falling to a depth of from two to three feet in 
the open, and from seven to eight feet in the woods, where it 
has no chance of melting, and all travelling must then be done 
with dogs. I also bought two sleighs, and some elk-skins and 
brass wire for making harness, the latter being used to stiffen 
the collars. Having completed all our arrangements, we wished 
everyone good-bye and started for our winter-quarters. 



THICKWOOD HILLS. 29 



CHAPTER III. 

Scenery in the Thickwood Hills. — Building huts. — Tom Boot. His size and 
strength. — Our nearest neighbour. — Visit the South Saskatchawan. — 
Large Camp of Crees. — A Sioux Indian prisoner. His trial and fate. 
Attempts to save him. — We leave the Camp. — Return journey. — Dread- 
ful spectacle. — Setting in of winter. Severe cold. — Description of 
trapping in winter. — Unpleasant adventure with Indians. Tom Boot to 
the rescue. His prowess. — A-ta-ka-koup makes friends. — Snow-shoe 
travelling. — A visit from Driver. 

We had sent all our carts but one back to Fort Garry, as they 
were useless to us in the winter, and on this one we piled our 
winter supplies — tent, clothing, bedding, &c, — with the two 
sleighs on the top, and I had hired an ox at the Post to draw 
it, as no pony could have done so. It was ninety miles to 
where we intended wintering, and this took us four days to 
do, as our load was so heavy and the country very wet and 
muddy ; my man's wife, too, who had intended to walk, gave 
in, and had to be put on the top of the cart with her child, 
which did not improve matters much. 

As we got nearer the Thickwood Hills, the country improved 
in appearance. The first fifty miles was along the river, through 



30 HUT-BUILDING. 

prairie, but after that we got among trees, chiefly pine, with 
lovely little prairies scattered through them making charming 
camping-grounds. At last we reached a place where there was 
a small opening in the trees, with a fine spring on one side of it 
— a perfect place for a house, so here we decided to erect our 
cabin. 

We first of all put up the tent and a house made of boughs 
for my man and his wife, and then marked off a space, twenty 
feet by sixteen, clearing off the brush and levelling it; and then 
came the hardest part of our work, that is, cutting the logs. 
My man Badger was a good hand with an axe, but I was new 
to that kind of work, and found it very hard. We had drawn 
a plan of the house, making it of rather too elaborate a pattern, 
having gable ends, which are a great deal of trouble to build; 
and a house thus built is not any more comfortable than the 
common form of log house, which is made as follows : — You 
first put up a frame of logs, notched where they cross one 
another so as to let them lie close, and of the required dimen- 
sions, making the back of the house higher by two logs than 
the front. Out of this you cut what doors and windows you 
require. You then make the roof by sloping small straight 
poles from the lower to the higher side, and cover them with 
grass and a foot of earth, putting cross poles to keep it all 
on ; and after making your doors and windows your house is 
finished on the outside, the only things remaining to be done 
being the chimney and floor, the former of these being always 
a difficulty. 

We got on very slowly with our house, and were wondering 
how we were going to raise the higher logs, when an immense 
half-breed called Tom Boot happened to come along, and we 



HUT-BUILDING. 31 

engaged him to help us. This man being six feet seven inches 
high, and the biggest man in every way I ever saw, could lift a 
log by himself which Badger and I staggered under, and our 
house was soon built. 

We made a door of a portion of our cart, and put in a parch- 
ment window made of deer-hide, inserting one small pane of 
glass, the only one they could spare me at the Fort, in the middle 
of it ; then we made some very rough stools and a table out of 
more of the cart, and put down a floor of pine-logs, each log 
making one board, as we had no saw — a plan I cannot recom- 
mend, as being on economical principles. 

Then came the chimney. Oh ! that chimney ! I think it took 
as long to build as the whole house. We would get it up 
about halfway, and in the morning find that it had fallen down 
again in the night. There were no stones about and no proper 
clay, so we had to work grass into the mud to make it stand. 
We made it across a corner, as being easier to build there, and 
left a large space for a fire, five feet square, in which we had 
some splendid ones during the winter. Why it did not take 
fire T cannot imagine, as we had put in any number of sticks 
to keep it up, and there was as much grass as mud in its 
composition. 

We did not make any bunks such as are usual in log cabins, 
preferring beds on the floor made of the buffalo-skins which we 
had got during the summer, with our blankets on the top. 

Our next task was to cut a lot of wood for the winter ; and 
Tom Boot was splendid at this, a seven-pound axe being a mere 
hatchet in his hands, and we also put up a meat-stage and a 
small store-house. This done we began to look about us and 
see what neighbours we had, and found that we had only one 



32 VISIT THE SOUTH SASKATCHAWAN. 

within calling distance,, and that he was a Cree called A-ta-ka- 
koup, which means the " spirit of the blanket ; " he was very 
much married, having three wives and no end of children. 

We made a call, Badger going with me as interpreter, but 
found them all away on their autumn buffalo-hunt, to lay in 
meat and tallow for the winter : however, they came back a few 
days afterwards and returned our call, coming a party of twenty 
or more, and stayed an unfashionably long time, being with us 
nearly all day and eating two meals, making an awful hole in 
our supplies, especially in the sugar-bag, out of which I could 
not keep the children's fingers. 

Having made things fairly comfortable, we determined to 
pay another visit to the South Saskatchawan to get a supply of 
meat, as the weather was now cold, and the meat would keep 
until spring, freezing so hard that you could kill a man with a 
strip of it. We took two ponies for packing, hired from A-ta- 
ka-koup, and we each rode another ; and on the third day we 
arrived at the camp of Badger's father-in-law, a Cree Indian, 
whose name was Mis-ta-wa-sis, or " the buffalo," where we 
remained two days. 

Old Mis-ta-wa-sis was also well supplied with wives, having 
three of them, and lived in an immense buffalo-skin lodge, in 
which, besides his own family, there was room for two of his 
sons-in-law and their families, and still there was plenty of 
room for us ; it was one of the few clean lodges I was ever 
in. He and I got to be very friendly, by the help of signs, and 
I promised to visit him again as we came back. 

Two days' more travelling brought us to the South Saskatch- 
awan, both this and the main river being solidly frozen over, so 
that we had no difficulty in crossing, and here we found a 




Page 30. — Our hut in the Thickwood Hills. 



A SIOUX PRISONER. 35 

large camp of Crees who were much excited about the capture 
of a Sioux Indian by some members of the tribe ; the Sioux and 
Crees being once more at war, as the peace which had been 
made at Fort Carlton had lasted only one summer. 

On our arrival we were given a small lodge by an Indian, who 
turned one of his wives out of it, and when we had put our 
saddles, packs, &c. in it and placed a boy to watch them, we 
went to pay a visit to " Big Bear" the head chief. We found 
him in his lodge, holding a council as to what should be done 
with the Sioux, and he hardly noticed us till this was over, 
when he informed me through Badger, on my inquiring as 
to the man's fate, that he was to be tortured on the next day 
but one. I remonstrated and offered to buy him of them, 
giving everything I had with me, but to no purpose, and I 
left vowing vengeance which I had no means of executing. 

On the following morning I got leave to see the prisoner, 
whom I found to be almost a boy, very small and weak -looking 
but perfectly calm ; though he had been told what his fate was 
to be. Badger managed to make him understand that I was 
trying to save him, on which he shook hands with me, but 
seemed to think he must die. 

I went to see the chief again in the afternoon, and had a long 
talk with him, adding to my previous offers if he would let me 
have the Sioux, but he assured me he had really no power in 
the matter. During the night I went near the lodge several 
times in which the Sioux was confined, hoping to get him out 
in the dark, but always found it guarded, and was ordered 
back. 

In the morning we left the camp, as we did not wish to 
see the torturing done, and late at night we reached a small 

d2 



36 WINTER SETS IN. 

band of Chippewas who were out on a hunt, and remained 
with them three days — seeing a good many buffaloes, but 
finding the running very bad, as there had been a light fall of 
snow, so all holes were covered, and I got one very bad fall in 
consequence. We loaded all the ponies with meat, and started 
on our return journey leading them, and on the morning of the 
third day we reached the Cree camp once more and found it 
deserted ; but in the middle of it stood a big stake to which 
was bound all that remained of the Sioux prisoner, and a 
horrible sight it was. They had cut off his hands and feet 
with Indian hatchets, taking perhaps ten or twelve blows for 
each limb ; then he was scalped, his tongue was cut out, and 
one of his feet was forced into his mouth, which had been slit 
to admit it, and he was stuck full of small spikes of wood, most 
of these horrible tortures, I was afterwards told, being done 
by the women. We buried him as well as we could with our 
hunting-knives, and proceeding on our journey reached home 
safely, stopping a few minutes with old Mis-ta-wa-sis on the 
way. Everything was just as we had left it, A-ta-ka-koup 
having been in charge, and I do not think that anyone had 
been in the house. 

The winter set in soon after this, and we had furious snow- 
storms and the wind howled in the tops of the trees, though 
where Ave were we did not feel it. This time we passed 
in making dog-harness and mending our clothes, the former 
being slow work, as it is made of three thicknesses of elk-skin. 
I found that stockings were of no use, one's feet freezing in 
them. All the Hudson's Bay men use long strips of a very 
thick flannel called duffle, which is wrapped round the foot up 
to the ankle. Of this you carry a fresh supply, and the strips 



TRAPPING IN WINTER. 37 

you have on must be taken off and dried when they become the 
least damp, or you will have frozen feet. 

After the snow was down we had delightful weather, as bright 
as in summer, and there being no wind the cold was not 
unpleasant, though the thermometer sometimes fell to over 50° 
below zero. Big game was scarce, as it was unusually cold, 
and most of the deer and elk had moved south ; but we 
managed to kill several early in the winter, and had fair luck 
when trapping, getting a good many marten, mink, foxes, and 
wolves. As this mode of trapping is peculiar to North America, 
I will describe it here. Having arranged which direction you 
will each of you take, you start off on snow-shoes, carrying 
some meat for food and for baits, coffee and salt, a knife, fork, 
and spoon, a plate, and a big tin cup which answers the purpose 
of both coffee-pot and cup, as you cool it in the snow, a small 
axe, and two wolf- traps, with two blankets rolled up and put on 
soldier fashion ; all this is not a bad load when on snow-shoes 
and in deep snow. You keep as straight a course as you can, 
stopping when you come across " sign " to erect a fall-trap, 
which is made as follows :^— 

You first choose two young fir-trees growing about fifteen 
inches apart, and enclose a semicircle behind them with stout 
stakes driven firmly into the snow. Then you cut a small log, 
which you lay on the ground against the front of the trees, 
fastening it in its place by two uprights two feet high, opposite 
to the trees. You then cut a fall-log about twenty feet long, and 
place it between the uprights and the trees, filling up the space 
above it with short logs. You then prepare your trigger, which 
is about a foot long, and sharp at one end, on which you put your 
bait ; then cut a short piece of wood, sharp at both ends, and 



38 AN UNPLEASANT ADVENTURE. 

raising the fall-log, support it on one end of this while the 
other holds the end of the trigger, and your trap is ready and 
will kill anything smaller than a fox — wolves and foxes requiring 
steel traps, which, instead of fastening to the ground, you simply 
tie to a rough log, so that the animal soon gets hung up, for if 
you pegged the trap down, he would bite the foot off and get 
away. On your way back in the morning, you take out what 
you have caught and rearrange your baits, generally going 
down your line twice a week ; some professionals, however, go 
three times. 

Your trouble is in keeping warm at night, two blankets being 
all that you can carry ; but I got over this difficulty by leaving 
a deer-skin bag at the further end of the line of traps, taking it 
there on a dog-sleigh ; and it is curious that no Indian will 
ever touch anything left on another man's line, or set a trap 
near one of his. 

I had one very unpleasant adventure, which happened to me 
shortly before Christmas, and which very nearly ended badly 
for me. 

We had with us a small keg of what the Hudson's Bay men 
call " shrub " — a kind of liqueur made with rum — which we 
were keeping for Christmas day ; but one evening, having come 
home very tired and cold, I thought I would have a glass, and 
T had just finished it when A-ta-ka-koup came in, accompanied 
by six other Indians, who happened to be camped near his 
house — one of them being his son-in-law, and whom I had 
already met. 

Now an Indian has a nose for spirit like that of a hound 
for a fox ; so they at once smelt the " shrub w and asked for 
some, but, as I knew they would finish it and that then 



AN UNPLEASANT ADVENTURE. 39 

there would probably be a fight, I refused, telling them that I 
had very little of it, and was keeping it for medicine. 

This did not satisfy them, however ; and seeing that we had 
only one place in the room where it could be kept — a box 
which stood under the window — A-ta-ka-koup opened this and 
took out the keg. I was standing near him, and at once 
snatched it from him and threw it into a corner, and catching 
up an axe I stood in front of it. We had one candle burning 
in the room, as it was nearly dark and we were on the point of 
going to bed when the Indians came in. A-ta-ka-koup's son- 
in-law seized this, and throwing it down put his foot on it. I 
saw that this meant a fight, in which knives would be used, 
and that I had better get outside as soon as possible; so I 
went down on my hands and knees, taking the keg under one 
arm, and keeping close to the logs, as being the safest place, 
I made for the door, which was on the opposite side of the 
room. 

I got on very well till I reached this, hearing the Indians 
searching for me and now and then touching them ; but here 
I crawled between the outspread legs of one of them, who had 
set his back against the door, and who at once struck down 
with his knife, cutting me badly in the back. I seized him 
by the legs and upset him behind me, caught up a double gun 
which was close at hand, and opening the door I went out and 
closed it after me, drawing out the latch-string — the latch 
being on the outside. 

Immediately on getting out of the house, I beat in the head 
of the keg with the butt of my gun and spilt the contents on 
the snow; the Indians bursting open the door as I did so 
made a rush at me, A-ta-ka-koup leading ; but seeing that I 



40 TOM BOOT TO THE RESCUE. 

took aim at him, he stopped about six feet from me and shook 
his fist in my face. I told him that I would shoot the first 
man who tried to touch me, at the same time backing away, 
to give myself more room in case of a rush. I had only two 
barrels, after which I meant to use the butt-end of my gun — 
a very poor weapon, as it would break at the first blow. 

The Indians had a short talk, and then A-ta-ka-koup came 
towards me and told me that, as I had thrown away the rum 
and had threatened to shoot him, they would kill me, hinting, 
however, that I might buy them off; the whole thing being 
done to get all they could out of me. Poor Badger, being 
very little more than a boy, was frightened to death ; he had 
not attempted to help me, and now advised me to give the 
Indians big presents, or I might be killed. This I, of course, 
refused to do, and they all sat down on some logs near the 
door of the house, occasionally shaking their fists at me. 

I had come out in my socks, having removed my boots 
before they arrived, and as I was standing in the snow, I soon 
lost all feeling in my feet and knew that they were frozen ; my 
only clothing, too, was a flannel shirt and a pair of drawers — 
rather light clothing for a night with the thermometer far 
below zero. 

How it would have ended I cannot think ; but just at the 
right moment up came Tom Boot, returning from a hunt. 
Now, fortunately for me, there had always been a rivalry 
between him and A-ta-ka-koup as to their relative strength 
and hunting capabilities ; so, on seeing who the leader of the 
Indians was, Tom Boot asked him what the matter was, and 
on being told what I had done and that they intended to kill 
me, he ordered A-ta-ka-koup to stand out of the way and let 



HIS PROWESS. 41 

me go into the house, and when he refused to do this, Tom 
seized him round the waist, picking him up like a child, and 
threw him against the logs of the house, stunning him, and 
causing the others to draw back hastily. Tom Boot then 
carried me into the house, as I was by this time too stiff to walk 
— shutting the door, and taking no notice of the other Indians. 

I asked him if he thought we were safe, on which he smiled, 
and said that there was not a man on the Saskatchawan who 
dare come into a house where he was if he did not wish him to 
do so. This I found to be true; and there was a tradition 
that he had only once hit a man, and had then killed him. 

Tom Boot had been for years in the employ of the Hudson's 
Bay Company, at the time of the rivalry between that company 
and the North- West Fur Company, and had seen a great deal 
of fighting which went on between their employes when they 
met in an Indian camp. Both companies used to hire fighting 
men to drive their rivals out of any camp to which they had 
gone to trade, and I was told at Fort Carlton that two French- 
Canadian prize-fighters had come on purpose to look at Tom 
Boot, having heard a great deal about him, and that they had 
walked round him and declared him to be too big to be any 
good, on which he picked up one of them and threw him at 
his companion, both of them coming down, when the French- 
men walked off, not wanting any more. 

On the present occasion he was very good to me, rubbing 
my frozen feet with snow, making me some tea, and doing all 
he could for me, and remained with me till morning. Just 
then A-ta-ka-koup put in an appearance, looking very dilapi- 
dated — his face having been much cut by the logs, and one of 
his arms was in a sling. 



\ 



42 SNOW-SHOES. 

He seemed to be as friendly as usual with Tom Boot, till the 
latter happened to leave the cabin, when he showed me a lock 
of Tom Boot's hair, which he said he had pulled out during 
the struggle, and by means of which he assured me he could 
make him "heap-a-sick." It seems that Indians — who are 
very superstitious — believe that if an enemy can get hold of a 
bit of their hair, he can, by throwing a little now and then into 
the fire, cause them to have a very serious illness, 

A-ta-ka-koup had come to make peace with me, as I was 
much too valuable a friend to quarrel with, and he had brought 
me a pair of moccasins as a peace offering. 

For a long time I would not look at him or his offering, 
though the latter lay just in front of me, and when he called 
my attention to it I pushed it towards him, when he would 
wait a few moments and then put it in front of me again. 
This went on for fully an hour, as I was employed in making 
some dog-harness. When I had finished what I had been 
doing, I called Badger and gave the old fellow a good talking 
to, ending by saying that if I had any more trouble I should 
leave that part of the country, and he would then lose all I had 
intended giving him before I went away in the spring. He 
was very penitent, and we eventually shook hands, and I had 
no reason to find fault with him again. After this I often went 
hunting with him, and found him to be a first-rate tracker and 
a wonderful man on snow-shoes in deep snow. 

I had come to America believing that a man could do eight 
or even ten miles an hour on snow-shoes, and that you went 
along on the surface ; but all this I found to be a mistake — 
the fact being that when the snow is soft you frequently go 
in to your knees, and have at each step to shake off the snow 



43 

before making another, and when there is a crust and you do 
go on the surface, the jar is so great that you are even sooner 
tired — five miles an hour being fast travelling. 

The snow-shoes we used in the North were very different 
from those used in Canada, as ours had the ends much more 
turned up and ended in a point, while in Canada they turn up 
very little and are rounded in front. Ours, too, were very 
much longer, many of them being over five feet in length. 

It is very amusing to see a beginner, who has fallen with 
his snow-shoes on, trying to get up ; his hands find no firm 
resting-place in the deep snow, and his face is buried in it, 
while the points of his snow-shoes stick in, so that he cannot 
turn himself over ; and it is only after he has pounded so long 
at the snow that he has made it solid, that he can manage 
to raise himself far enough to remove the snow-shoes and 
get up. 

I had a visit from an old Indian trader called " Driver " 
about this time. I had seen him in Fort Garry and had told 
him of my intention to winter somewhere near Carlton; so 
hearing of me from some Indians, he had come out of his way 
to pay me a visit. He had been an Indian trader all his life, 
and had done well at it, in spite of the Hudson's Bay Company, 
who had tried to starve him out many times. 

He told me that no man could oppose them in the North, 
being too far from his base of supplies, but that down here he 
did as he liked. He had once sold the forbidden whiskey just 
outside the gates of Carlton, but then he had a number of 
rough men with him, and could not be meddled with. 

On another occasion he had penetrated into the heart of 
Athabasca with a trading outfit worth about eight hundred 



44 " driver's gastronomic ideas. 

pounds, and would have made it pay well if he had been let 
alone ; but the Company heard of it, and sent north at once 
to tell the Indians that if they would not go near him or sell 
him anything, they would give away as presents an outfit equal 
to his ; and this they did — poor " Driver " selling nothing and 
being nearly starved. 

I thought I would give him a really good dinner ; so having 
some buffalo-hump ribs, I roasted them myself, and expected 
to hear him enthusiastic in their praise ; but no, not a word 
did he say; so I asked him what he thought of the meat, 
which was as tender as a well-kept chicken, on which he said 
that he preferred something that he could get hold of, which 
he could not do with what he had just eaten. 

He left me, after remaining two days, inviting me to visit 
him at his camp on Red Deer River ; but I did not do 
so, though his account of the quantity of game there was 
most tempting. 



M5f TENT. 43 



CHAPTER IV. 

A nioose-hunt. — Description of my tent. — A-ta-ka-koup in camp. — Hunting 
moose on snow-shoes. Deaths of a bull and a cow. Lynx-hunting. — 

Tom Boot a nuisance. — F 's history. His miserable condition. 

I take him with me. — Beautifying the hut. — F and I visit my late 

companions. Our journey. — The wolverine. — Getting F home. — 

Badger neglects the traps. — Narrow escape of being murdered. My 
precautions for the future. — An invitation to a stealing-party. 

A-ta-ka-koup having found some moose sign not far from the 
hut, we arranged to have a hunt together^ remaining out several 
nights, and Badger was to look after my traps in the mean- 
while ; and a few days later we started, taking two of my dogs, 
and a light sleigh, so as to camp comfortably. 

We did not attempt to hunt till we were ten or twelve miles 
from the cabin, and then we put up a comfortable camp, in a 
hollow surrounded by bushes. This particular kind of camp 
was an idea of my own, so I will describe it. 

I got a squaw to make me an A-tent, closed at both ends, 
and used this on the dog-sleigh instead of the usual big sheet ; 
when going on such a hunt as this, and when we had chosen a 
spot and shovelled away the snow, after laying down a foot of 
either willows or small fir branches, we put up my tent on its 



46 A-TA-KA-KOUP IN CAMP. 

side, the other side forming a slant, and the two ends keeping 
ont all draughts, making us very comfortable. A-ta-ka-koup 
rather laughed at it when he saw it unpacked, but he laughed 
no more when he was lying in it, and said that his squaw 
should make him one. 

In a dry country such as that was, where a storm was a 
rarity after the snow was once down, such a shelter as this 
was far better than a tent, being much more easily warmed, as a 
fire could be lighted so much nearer to it ; and many a night I 
have lain in my bag, chatting with whomever formed the party, 
and felt as if I would not change my quarters for the finest 
room in the world. 

On this occasion the amount of chatting was necessarily very 
limited, as A-ta-ka-koup knew only about twenty or thirty 
words of English; but he was a grand companion in other 
ways, being always ready to get up, however cold it was, and 
make up the fire, besides cutting all the wood, and bringing 
most of it into camp. 

Sometimes he seemed to forget that I did not understand 
him, and would go on talking, evidently, from the signs he 
made, telling me of battles he had fought and of men he had 
killed, and I would give a grunt now and then — Indian fashion 
— as if I understood it all. 

Having made a very snug camp, we started at once, and soon 
came on moose-tracks of that morning. A-ta-ka-koup said 
that they were those of three cows and a bull, and we followed 
them for more than an hour, by which time we were evidently 
close to them. The snow was here very deep, as we sank in 
nearly to cur knees with snow-shoes on, and the moose 
evidently had to jump to get along at all. 



A MOOSE-HUNT. 47 

As we were going round a small thicket we heard them 
start, and almost immediately they broke cover about two 
hundred yards ahead, going pretty fast. A-ta-ka-koup seemed 
to be confident of coming up with them, and started on the run 
after them, going at the rate of perhaps six miles an hour, 
which he could not have kept up for long, and I followed at 
about the rate of five miles. I had had so much snow-shoe 
travelling that I was in good condition, but I was not such an 
old hand at it as he was, so that he continued to gain on me, 
and in half an hour was two hundred yards ahead and gaining 
still, in spite of all I could do. 

I then heard a shot, followed by another, and came up to 
him standing over a cow, where I left him, as he told me the 
bull was not far in front, and in a few minutes I saw him, 
evidently labouring, about a hundred yards off; so I fired, 
missing with the first barrel and hitting him too far back 
with the second, on which he increased his speed for a few 
hundred yards, and then stood at bay. Thinking him weaker 
than he really was, I went up to within ten yards of him, 
when down went his head, and in about three tremendous 
jumps he was almost on me. I fired at his head, and, fortu- 
nately perhaps, missing that struck him in the neck, dropping 
him at once — not three feet from me. He was a splendid 
fellow, and had a good head, which A-ta-ka-koup carried to 
camp for me, where we hung it high up on some boughs, 
intending to fetch it in the spring. 

On returning to camp, A-ta-ka-koup took the sleigh and 
dogs and went to fetch some of the cow meat, the bull being 

too tough to eat. 

As there were a good many lynx- tracks about, A-ta-ka-koup 



48 LYNX-HUNTING. 

went home the next morning to fetch some dogs which he had, 
and which were good at treeing lynxes ; so I took my shot gun 
and hunted for grouse round camp. There were a good many 
ruffed grouse and a few willow-grouse, both being capital eat- 
ing ; and I had six of them broiled by the time A-ta-ka-koup 
returned. He appreciated them thoroughly, and declared that 
for the future he would always have them cooked in that way, 
the usual Indian manner of cooking them being to throw them 
into a pot after skinning them. 

The next day we started after lynx, taking my sleigh-dogs 
with us, as they made so much noise if tied up in camp, and 
might attract some passing Indian. 

A-ta-ka-koup's dogs soon found a fresh trail, and away they 
all went — my dogs leading, as they were in better wind, and 
we followed as fast as we could. As we went along, A-ta-ka- 
koup explained the tracks to me, seeming to know what turns 
they had made and which dogs were leading at the time, and 
as his dogs were very much smaller than mine, they made a 
track about half the size. 

We had not gone far when we heard them all giving tongue, 
and knew that the lynx was treed, and soon came to where he 
had gone up a low fir tree. A-ta-ka-koup came up first, and 
fired, on which the lynx dropped wounded among the dogs. 
Ivline immediately bolted, sleigh-dogs seldom having much 
pluck ; but the two smaller ones went in and killed him in 
good style. We found two more during the day — losing one 
and killing the other. I had the luck to get the shot, as I 
happened to take the right-hand side of a thicket, whilst A-ta- 
ka-koup had to go some way round. 

We had one day at white-tailed deer, but had bad luck, as 



S HISTORY. 



49 



we only got one, the reason being that A-ta-ka-koup's dogs 
behaved badly, by rushing on in front and putting up the deer 
long before we got near enough to shoot, for which conduct 
they got an " Indian beating/' which was much worse than 
that given by an English keeper. 

On the fifth day we returned home, having had a most 
enjoyable hunt. 

On our return we found Tom Boot camped near the hut, 
having come to live on us, as he was too lazy to hunt for him- 
self, and was very insolent if you refused him anything ; and 
here he remained nearly the whole winter, begging and steal- 
ing, and altogether he was an awful nuisance. 

Late in December I paid another visit to the fort to get 

supplies, and found there a Scotchman named F , who had 

had rather an eventful career. 

He was the son of a clergyman in Edinburgh, and had run 
away from school when he was sixteen, and turned actor. As 
he did not make much money at this, he had gone out to 
St. John's, New Brunswick, just after the greater portion of 
that city had been burned down. Here he had hired himself 
to a house-painter, and had developed a decided talent for that 
kind of work, being particularly good at imitating different 
woods ; but after a time he got tired of this, and had gone to 
George Town, Demerara, where he had set up for himself 
as a house-painter and decorator, and had done well. He 
then returned to Scotland and married, and had two 
daughters. 

Then came the British Columbian gold boom, and, bitten 
with the mining mania, he had sent his wife and daughters to 
Iowa to some friends, and had paid forty pounds to a bubble 



50 F 'S HISTORY. 

company, which had contracted to take him to the mines for 
that sum — being one of the men whom we had heard of in 
St. Paul's when the company broke up. Having a little money 
still left, he bought an ox and a cart, and travelled alone to 
Fort Garry, and worked there to make some money to buy a 
fresh outfit, and with this he started for British Columbia — a 
journey of twelve hundred miles; but on reaching Carlton his 
ox died, and when I found him he was living in a miserable 
lodge with some old Indians, who were given scraps from the 
fort, which he shared with them, as it was against the policy 
of the Company to help any white man coming into their terri- 
tories, wishing to discourage immigration, as it interfered with 
their monopoly. 

He was so miserable when I found him that I think he would 
have died that winter, not being used to cold or able to eat 
much of the food, which was only such as the sleigh-dogs got. 
I found him to be a very pleasant and amusing man, who had 
seen a great deal of life of most kinds, and we soon became 
friends ; so when I was about to leave the Post I proposed that 
he should come and pass the winter with me, an offer which he 
accepted. 

The journey back to my cabin was a dreadful trial for him, 
as he would not use snow-shoes, so that the track we made 
would not bear him and he had to struggle along in two feet of 
snow. Where the going was fairly good he could ride on the 
sleigh, but then he immediately froze, so that several times we 
had to stop and light a fire to warm him. 

We were three days doing the ninety miles, and I think 
that Badger and I were quite as thankful to see the house as 
he was, though the roughness of it struck him at once, and 



DECORATING THE HUT. 51 

his spare time during the winter was spent in beautifying the 
inside. 

He had some paints with him and began first of all on the 
fire-place, which he painted all over, and then ornamented by 
representing a marble mantlepiece with vases on it ; and he did 
it so well that all the Indians who came in would go up and 
touch it, and then look at it sideways to see why it appeared to 
stand out. He restopped the house inside too, and painted 
the stopping blue, I, however, had my doubts as to its being an 
improvement. 

When making his bed, instead of sleeping on the top of a 
number of buffalo-robes and bear-skins which we had bought of 
the Indians, he would get under them, retaining two only to lie 
on, and would even then say he was cold. 

For some days he thought he would cook instead of Badger's* 
wife, but we found that what he prepared had such an extra- 
ordinary flavour that we reinstated our old cook. He had the 
remains of some West-Indian sauces with him, and he would 
put these in, adding a quantity of cayenne pepper, which he 
could eat as we did salt, as he had lived fifteen years in South 
America. 

About a week after F 's arrival, I made up my mind to 

go and pay a visit to my late companions, whose house was only 
about forty miles from mine, making them near neighbours for 

that part of the world ; and I at last persuaded F to go 

with me, as I intended taking four dogs and a sleigh, and he 
could ride most of the way. 

I engaged a Cree Indian called Ki-chi-mo-ko-man, or a Big- 
knife," to act as guide, as Badger knew nothing of the country 

north of the Saskatchawan. 

e2 



52 VISIT MY LATE COMPANIONS. 

It took us two days, and I thought that F would have 

given out more than once, as the snow was soft and he was 
forced to walk occasionally, hut we arrived at last, arid found 

M and C living in a much less pretending house than 

ours, it being made on the principle which I have described. 

They had put up bunks for beds, using fir boughs for mat- 
tresses ; and as the bunks were one above the other, you could 
not sit up in comfort, nor had you light enough for writing or 
reading, which we often did in bed when it was very cold. 

They had had fair sport, and Laronde being a much better 
trapper than Badger had done better in that way, but had been 
very much troubled by a wolverine, an animal which is the 
trapper's worst enemy, as it goes along his line of traps and 
takes out anything which may have been caught, and tears up 
all that it cannot eat, apparently out of pure mischief. One of 
these animals had destroyed a number of good skins for them, 
and it did not seem possible to catch him, though they had 
tried poison and many kinds of traps. 

I heard of some being killed with spring guns, and it was in 
this way that they eventually got him. Indians and trappers 
nearly always torture a wolverine when caught, very often 
roasting him alive over the fire. 

We remained only one night with my friends, as Christmas 
was near and I had a good deal to do before then. Unfortu- 
nately there was a snowstorm on the night of our arrival, which 
made the travelling very bad, burying our tracks so deeply 
that they were of no use to us on the return journey, and we 
were obliged to walk most of the way. 

Ki-chi-mo-ko-man, too, was not nearly so good a man in 
camp as A-ta-ka-koup, as he shirked his work, and being more 



DISADVANTAGES OF A BEARD. Oo 

used to cold than ourselves, we were obliged to get up in the 
night to replenish the fire. 

I have already described my leather A-tent, which was in- 
valuable when such a man as F was with us, who would 

have frozen if he had slept in the open. He had made himself 
a buffalo-bag too, and watching him getting into it was very 
amusing. The process is simple, being merely to open the mouth 
of the bag and step into it, then giving a jump and pulling the 
bag up at the same time, continuing this until far enough in to 
sit down, when you slide yourself in, turn the end in under 
your head, and you soon get warm if lying by a fire : your 
breath contributing a good deal towards the warming of the 

inside air, though I fear the ventilation is bad. Now with F ■ 

the jumping was the difficulty, his attempts much resembling 
those of a young elephant, making even Ki-chi-mo-ko-man laugh. 

I found during this trip that a man with a heavy beard and 
moustache labours under great disadvantages in a very cold 
country, as his breath freezes it all into one solid mass. This 

was the case with F , and we had great fun by making him 

laugh, as this necessitated his opening his mouth so that he felt 
as if all the hair was being torn out by the roots. 

Very soon after starting F had to get out and walk, and 

in less than an hour he was in difficulties. I cheered him up as 
well as I could, and Ki-chi-mo-ko-man frightened him by telling 
him of Indians who had been partially frozen and then eaten by 
wolves (an instance of which I saw myself on another occasion) ; 
but it was all of no use, and about four o' clock on the first 
afternoon he sat down and declared he would go no further. 
We put him on the sleigh and managed to get him to a good 
camping place, where we remained till morning. 



54 GETTING P HOME. 

We started quite briskly the next morning, and there was no 
trouble till after dinner, as we only stopped once for him to 
warm himself, but very soon afterwards he gave out again, and 
sitting down he wished us both good-bye, saying that he meant 
to remain where he was and die. We lit a fire and warmed him 
thoroughly, and got him on another mile or so, but beyond that 
he would not go, and it was only by pretending to quarrel with 
him and by hitting him, when he got furious and chased me, 
that I got him home at last. It took several days to appease 
his wrath, and to prove that I only did what I had done to save 
his life. 

When I got home I found that Badger had been neglecting 
the traps, spending most of his time in A-ta-ka-koup's house ; 
and on going along my line I found that a wolverine had paid 
the traps a visit, and had eaten two martens and left nothing 
but the tail of what must have been a fine fisher, a skin which 
is worth fully two martens. I got one fine wolf, and I fear 
that the poor animal had been several days in the trap, as he 
had eaten everything in the shape of a twig within reach, and 
had gnawed the bark from the log to which the trap was 
fastened. 

On my way home I was crossing a small ridge when I saw 
A-ta-ka-koup's son-in-law, the man whom I had thrown over 
my head in the struggle for the ff shrub/'' and who had never 
forgiven me, go quickly into a clump of small fir trees, which 
were on my way to the hut, and I also noticed that he had a 
gun in his hand, and seemed to move in a stealthy way as if he 
had seen me coming, and did not wish me to know of his being 
there. Now I had been told by Badger that he had vowed to 
be revenged on me for what I had done to him, so that he 



A NARROW ESCAPE. 55 

probably meant to waylay me and shoot me as I passed. I was 
about an hour's journey from the cabin, but the snow was in 
good order, so I turned aside from the direct road home, and 
I do not think I ever made better time on snow-shoes in 
my life. 

Going straight to A-ta-ka-koup's house, where I found him 
at home, I told him what I had seen, and assured him that I 
should always in future carry a gun, and that if I ever met his 
son-in-law I should shoot him. A-ta-ka-koup left the house at 
once, and on his coming to see me in the evening, he told me 
that he had sent his son-in-law south, to his father' s camp on 
the Saskatchawan, and that I should not see him again ; but 
to be on the safe side, in case the man had not really gone 
away, from that day I always carried a revolver, and took 
with me a favourite dog, so that he might not get a chance, 
or I feel convinced he would have taken it. 

The dog I refer to was a huge white Esquimaux exactly like 
a wolf, which I had made very fond of me, and which always 
slept against my back, adding greatly to my comfort. 

That day two strange Crees whom no one knew arrived and 
stopped with me, saying nothing of their errand on the first 
day, but they asked me the next morning whether I would join 
them in a horse-stealing expedition, which they and some of 
their companions were going to undertake in the Blackfoot 
country, south-east of where we then were. 

Of course I refused, much to their surprise, but A-ta-ka-koup's 
son joined them, and I heard from him the result of the 
attempt. 

It seems that they reached a large Blackfoot camp, and found 
out where the horses were herded, but were discovered by a 



56 A HORSE-STEALING EXPEDITION. 

horse-guard and had to fly ; losing one of their number, and my 
informant was also wounded. They only escaped through their 
being much better on snow-shoes than the Blackfeet. 

Such expeditions as these are looked upon as being strictly 
honourable; and are not regarded as stealing; though an Indian's 
ideas on this subject are not very orthodox, as with them it is 
only wrong to be found out. 






PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS. 57 



CHAPTER V. 

How to make a plum-pudding. — Our Christmas party. — Nocturnal visits of 

F and myself to the plum-pudding. — Our daily routine. — F 

does not enjoy winter. — I am summoned to a Cree council. — A night 
apparition. — The Cree camp. Accusations against me. Enmity of 
some of the Indians. Rescued from a dangerous position "by " "White 
Hawk." — A new religion. — Impunity of lunatics. — Leave Cree camp. — 
Mis-ta-wa-sis corrects his wife with an axe. — Attempt to marry me. — 
A-ta-ka-koup propitiates the hunting god. — Camping in the snow. — A 
dog-sleigh described. — Behaviour of dogs. 

We were now within three days of Christmas, and began to 
look np our materials for the festivities of that day. We had 
reserved some buffalo-hump ribs, which having been frozen for 
more than two months would be tender ; we had, too, a bottle 
of whiskey, obtained at the Fort, and the materials for a plum- 
pudding, and this last was our only difficulty, none of us knowing 
anything about the manufacture of that article. 

F having lived in South America for fifteen years had 

not seen one all that time, so I constituted myself chief cook 

and F was appointed kitchen-maid, and we commenced 

operations by F 9 s sewing two towels together for a 

pudding-cloth and my washing out our best wooden bucket 



58 OUR PLTJM-PUDDING. 

for a basin. The ingredients — currants, raisins, and citron, 
which we had carefully saved — were then inspected, and the 
first thing we noticed was a most lamentable deficiency in the 
quantity, not more than half of what we had brought being 

found ; but of course no one had touched them. F 

said he had found a stray raisin or currant now and then, 
and I had done the same, and had thought it was of no use 
leaving it to be spoiled ; however, this could not account for 
so large a deficiency. Then we found a good many percus- 
sion caps, shot, powder, and other trifles among the fruit, but 
we agreed that none of these were poisonous, so we picked 
out as many as we could and left the remainder. Our chief 
doubt was the eggs, of which we had brought four dozen packed 
in bran; but these were all unmistakably bad except four, which 
were doubtful, so we gave them the benefit of the doubt and 
put them into the bucket with 7 or 8 lb. of flour, about J lb. of 
currants, ^lb. of raisins, and some citron-peel. It struck me 
that the proportions might not be correct, but it was the best 
I could do. I then added about 2 lb. of suet, cut fine, and a 
small tin of baking-powder; it was our last, and I had my doubts 
about its strength, so I put it all in and poured in a lot of water 

and stirred it for about an hour, F taking a turn now and 

then. We then put the pudding into the bag, sewed it up, and 
deposited it in the camp kettle, which we placed by the fire so 
that it should not boil too rapidly. 

All this had been done two days before Christmas day, so as 
to have plenty of time, and the event showed that we had not 
begun too soon. When we went to bed we left the kettle beside 
the fire all night and recommenced boiling the pudding in the 
morning ; but the cooking only seemed to harden it, so that in 



OUR CHRISTMAS PARTY. 59 

the evening we sent for A-ta-ka-koup's wife and paid her to boil 
it all night, telling her that it was White man's medicine and 
sudden death to an Indian (which in its then state it well might 
be), lest she might be tempted to try it; of course she said she 
had done what we had paid her for, but it seemed just as hard 
in the morning. 

There were some five or six Indians encamped in the neigh- 
bourhood, whose chief amusement consisted in sitting for hours 
against the wall of our house, not uttering a word the whole 
time, and we invited all these and the A-ta-ka-koup family to 
dinner, and on their arrival we ranged them all round the 
room, we ourselves sitting at the table, and Badger served the 
dainties to us. 

First we all had a glass of grog and drank to the health of 
the Queen, the Indians wondering why we stood up as we did 
it. Then slices of buffalo were handed on the ends of sticks to 
all the Indians, these being the fasionable substitutes for forks 
in those regions, and saving a great deal of breakage and conse- 
quent loss of temper ; and then came the pudding, which had 
been left in the towels till the last moment so as to give it every 
chance. On sticking a knife into it, it was hard work to get 
it out again, and when it was extracted it brought with it 
more of the pudding than is usual. 

A portion was at last cut for everyone and handed round, 
but though on most of the slices a plum or a currant, and in 
some cases two or three, were visible, there was not that enthu- 
siasm about it which we had hoped for, everyone eating his or 
her portion in silence. My piece reminded me of what school- 
boys call " turnpike pudding/' plums occurring about as often 
as turnpikes do in travelling. 



60 NOCTURNAL VISITS TO THE PUDDING. 

After dinner we had a talk about game with the Indians, and 
then turned in, having dined fashionably late to give the pudding 
an opportunity of becoming soft ; but before we went to bed we 
marked what remained of it showing how much we were to eat 
each day, and finding that we had some 5 lb. left, enough with 
care to last us five days. 

On trying to sleep T could think of nothing but pudding, till 
at last I thought I must have one small piece more; so I got 
out of my buffalo-robes, crawled to the box, and raised the lid ; 

but that sly man F had piled some things on it after 

putting out the light, and down they all came with a great noise. 

F , it seems, was awake and also thinking of pudding, and 

he immediately shouted out asking who was at the box : I told 
him that I only wanted the smallest possible piece, which I took 
and retired to bed, replacing such of the fallen articles as I could 

find on the box, a thing which evidently F did not expect, 

for presently down they all came again and there was the man 
who had abused me for taking the pudding doing the same thing 
himself, and I am sorry to say that we each of us made two 
more visits to the box during the night, and when we came to 
look at it in the morning we found one of us must have taken 
more of the pudding than he should, as it had dwindled down 
to about 1 lb., so not liking to be reminded of our misdeeds we 
ate that for breakfast. 

After the dissipations of Christmas, we settled down once 
more to our weekly routine, which was as follows : — 

On Monday I went along my line of traps and took up 
what had been caught, and had happened to be left by 
the wolverines. On Tuesday I returned home, doing the 
same thing. On Wednesday I generally went deer hunting 



SUMMONED TO A CREE COUNCIL. 61 

with A-ta-ka-koup or Ki-chi-mo-ko-man ; and on Thursday 
I did what was necessary round the house, shot rabbits, 
which, by the way, turn white in winter, and on Friday and 
Saturday I again visited my line of traps. Sunday being a 
day of rest we employed ourselves mending our clothes, dog- 
harness, &c, and read once more one of our very few books 
and newspapers. 

F was very miserable during the whole winter, almost 

living in bed with all the spare skins and rugs heaped upon 
him. I have come home sometimes and have missed him, and 
on calling to him have been answered by a small voice coming 
from under an immense heap of deer- and buffalo-skins ; when 
it appeared that, the wood giving out, he had dreaded the cold 
too much to go outside and cut some, and Badger being also 
away hunting he had crept under the skins and had been there 
for hours shivering in spite of their weight. 

I found game becoming very scarce, and by the end of 
January we were very nearly out of meat, and the flour was 
getting low, so it was determined that Badger and I should pay 
another visit to his father-in-law's camp, and we were waiting 
for good weather for our start when a runner arrived to 
summon me to a big council of the Crees, which was to be held 
on the north fork of the Saskatchawan. 

He did not know why I was wanted, or said he did not, and 
returned at once. The day after he left we started, taking a 
sleigh and four dogs, a little flour, and some presents in the 
form of beads, brass wire, sham jewellery, and powder and lead 
for the Indians. The snow was deep and the travelling bad, 
but by following the tracks of the runner, who was on snow- 
shoes, we got on fairly and did some twenty miles a day — a 



62 A MIDNIGHT APPARITION. 

good day's journey with dogs being from forty to sixty, ac- 
cording to the state of the snow. 

Our second night out was on the open prairie, and we had 
had to carry wood with us and to sleep without any bushes or 
fir-boughs under our buffalo -skins. The fire being very small 
and likely to go out soon, we had turned in early, and in the 
middle of the night, feeling very cold, I put my head out of my 
buffalo-bag to see what sort of a night it was, when to my 
extreme surprise I saw two Indians seated smoking their pipes on 
the opposite side of the embers. I thought at first that I must 
be dreaming, but on my moving they both raised their heads, 
and I saw that they were men and not the fancies of a dream. 

I at once woke Badger, and on his questioning them, we found 
that they were Crees and on their way to the big council to 
which we were also bound, and who, having seen our fire, had 
come to warm themselves. 

The next evening we reached the Cree camp, which we found 
to consist of nearly two thousand Indians, no women or 
children being present. I was given a lodge and was told that 
the next meeting would be held at sunset that evening. 

After making our lodge as comfortable as possible and lighting 
a fire in the centre of it, I sent Badger out to discover, if 
possible, why we had been summoned. He returned in about an 
hour with the information that the Crees, hearing that I had 
been killing a good many buffaloes, had been most indignant, 
and had sent for me to say that I must leave the country at once. 

The main object of the council was to discuss certain wrongs 
which they thought they had suffered at the hands of the 
Hudson's Bay Company in allowing their enemies, the Sioux, 
to trade at Fort Carlton. 






AT THE COUNCIL. 63 

I attended the meeting in the evening, which was held round 
a circle of fires, the chiefs and soldier Indians sitting two and 
three deep round the circle, the younger men being in the 
middle keeping up the fires. 

The first speeches were all about their differences with the 
Company, till one of the Indians pointing to me reminded 
them of their having sent for me ; and then one of the younger 
chiefs rose and began what Badger told me was a speech 
against white men not belonging to the Company killing game, 
especially buffalo, in their territory; he was very moderate and 
calm about it, but he was followed by an old Assineboine chief, 
whose name I remember was " Big Vulture," who was by no 
means calm ; in fact he worked himself up into such a rage 
that he several times shook his fist at me, and slapped his knife 
meaningly. His speech had a bad effect, Indians being very 
easily roused by a man who is eloquent. On his sitting down 
I rose, Badger putting what I said into the Cree language. I 
began by saying, That I was a stranger from a very distant 
land across the big water ; that I had there heard of the noble 
Red Man and had come to visit him, bringing him many presents, 
some of which I had now with me. That I had only shot what 
game I had wanted for food ; and that during the summer I 
had only killed thirteen buffaloes, several of which were old 
bulls, and therefore useless. I then said that the " Great 
White Mother" (as they always call the Queen) took a great 
interest in her Bed children ; and that I should go back and say 
how kind they had always been to me. Here I was interrupted 
very rudely by a young Indian sitting near me, who wanted to 
know whether I had brought presents for all of them. Of 
course I was obliged to say that I had not, on which he worked 



64 A NEW RELIGION. 

himself up into a fury^ ending by saying " that if I were 
allowed to go back, many more white men would come/" on 
which an old Indian, who had seated himself beside me, 
touched me on the arm and pointed towards the tents, evi- 
dently meaning me to go with him, which I did, taking Badger 
with me. 

When we reached his tent, which was a very large one and 
evidently belonged to a chief, he motioned me to a seat and 
told me, through Badger, that if I had remained at the council 
I should certainly have been killed ; but that with him I was 
safe. 

He said that he was chief of a large baud of the Crees then 
present, and being a friend of the white men would protect me; 
but I must remain in his tent till the council broke up, which 
it would probably do in two or three days. Not a very pleasant 
prospect as I had no books or newspapers with me. 

Badger was sent for our things and reported that the talk at 
the council was still about me ; and that a good many Indians 
were opposed to injuring me, as it would do them so much 
harm with the Company. 

Late in the evening I was surprised by five of them coming 
in and a sort of service being held, during which something 
wrapped in a beautifully dressed buffalo-calf skin was laid in 
front of the chief and treated with great veneration ; and after 
the service was ended and the Indians gone, I asked him what 
this was, and what the service meant. 

He very carefully unfolded the skin and produced a book, 
evidently made of sheets torn from a large ledger, the paper 
being lined foolscap ; and this he very reverently held up to the 
light of the fire, when I could see some watermarks in the 



IMPUNITY OF LUNATICS. 65 

paper ; and these, he told me, were the beginnings of a new 
religion, which was being revealed to him by degrees. He 
assured me that there was more of it on the paper then than 
there had been a short time before ; and that soon the whole of 
it would be there, when he would be the greatest chief in North 
America. 

Of course I did not attempt to put him right, as he would 
not have believed me and might have turned me out, which 
would have bean very awkward just then. It seems that the 
service had been a series of prayers to the new God, and that 
the five Indians were the only converts he had made so far. 

One great reason for my safety while with him was that 
most of the Indians looked upon him as a madman ; and, as 
such, nnder the special protection of the "Great Spirit.-" I 
have seen a good many lunatics in Indian camps, and they were 
always well cared for, and perfectly safe from everyone, no 
matter what they might do. One of them has taken a chiefs 
gun from a lodge in which I was sitting and walked away with 
it ; and the chief has only followed him on the chance of his 
laying it down, and never dreamt of taking it from him. 

The camp broke up on the morning of the second day, much 
to my delight as I had had to remain the whole time in the tent, 
and had been constantly stared at by hundreds of Indians, who 
were coming in and going out all day long, evidently hoping to 
get presents ; but my host advised me not to give any, as I had 
not enough for all and should consequently only make enemies; 
but I found out afterwards that he hoped I would give the 
whole of them to him for having saved my life. 

I remained another day with my old friend, who was called 
" White Hawk" (a most inappropriate name, as he was one of 



66 ATTEMPT TO MARRY ME. 

the darkest Indians I ever saw), and before I left he asked me 
whether I wonld give him a testimonial, showing me some 
which he had from various members of the Hudson's Bay 
Company. 

I gave him one, mentioning in it what he had done for me, 
and we parted. 

I reached Mis-ta-wa-sis' camp on the evening of the day I 
left " White Hawk/' and fancied he did not greet me as warmly 
as usual ; and on inquiry I found that he had almost killed one 
of lils wives the day before with an axe, and was afraid of what 
I might say to him. 

I immediately left his lodge and said I would never enter it 
again, at which he was very much hurt, though he said nothing, 
and I moved into one of the neighbouring lodges, where I 
found an old Indian with four daughters, one of whom he very 
much wanted me to marry, bringing the young lady for me to 
look at ; and on my refusing as politely as I could, she rushed 
out of the lodge in a great rage and did not again appear. 

On my return home I found F , as usual, very miserable, 

since, having had no one to chop wood for him, he had nearly 
starved and was almost frozen. I remained two days to cut a 
good supply, and then started for a last hunt with A-ta-ka-koup, 
as there were signs of a herd of deer having come south lately. 

We remained out four days, and got seven deer, a wild cat, 
three wolves, and a fox; and I had a good opportunity of 
seeing the way in which the Indians try to propitiate the 
hunting God when on the trail of game. 

We had followed three deer nearly all day, jumping them 
once but not getting a shot, when we ascertained that they 
were in a large thicket about three or four hundred yards ahead 



WE PROPITIATE THE HUNTING GOD. 67 

of us. A-ta-ka-koup stopped me and lit a small fire, at which 
he sat down, and lighting his pipe he blew a whiff to the north, 
south, east, and west, and one upwards. He remained 
solemnly looking at the fire for nearly an hour, evidently 
praying, and then declared himself ready, and approached the 
bushes on one side, placing me on the other ; and very soon 
the deer came out close to me. Having remained so long by 
such a little fire my fingers were almost frozen and I missed the 
first ; but broke the hind leg of the second, and A-ta-ka-koup 
ran it down, bounding through the deep snow like a deer. He 
seemed to think that my hitting the deer was in answer to his 
prayers, and was very pleased. 

I have before mentioned what a good companion A-ta-ka- 
koup was when out hunting, and how he was always ready to 
make up the fire at night, and in this he was a great contrast 
to most Indians, who will try and shirk work in camp, leaving 
you to do everything. 

It is amusing, when camping in the snow, to observe the 
little artifices put in practice to make your neighbour get up and 
renew the fire instead of doing it yourself. T have seen men 
pretend to have nightmare, screaming and kicking in furious 
style ; then they have coughing fits or roll against their 
neighbour. Anything is better than getting up yourself, as it 
means wading through the snow to fetch more wood, and some- 
times going far into the timber to get it, and taking a good 
deal of snow into your bag when you turn in again. 

Sleeping out in a snowstorm is a curious experience, till you 
are used to it. Snow. falls so rapidly in that country that you 
very soon have from six to eighteen inches of snow on you • 
and I shall never forget my feelings when waking up one 



68 DOG-SLEIGHS. 

morning and putting my head out of my bag, I found myself, as 
I thought, deserted. The whole prairie for miles was perfectly 
level; the dogs, sleigh, and my companions were all gone, and 
it was most curious, when the real state of the case occurred 
to me and I had shouted several times, to see the snow open 
in one spot and reveal a man's head, and in another a 
dog's. On this occasion enough snow had fallen to cover 
the sleigh and everything on it, the latter being some fifteen 
inches high. 

When speaking of a sleigh as used with dogs, of course one 
does not mean such a one as is used in Canada for horses, even 
on a small scale. A dog-sleigh is simply a board of birch-wood 
fourteen inches wide and one inch thick, and about ten feet 
long, having one end turned up and tied back. Along the sides 
of this board are arranged loops of raw hide for lashing, and 
the way it is packed is as follows : — 

A large sheet of buffalo-leather is laid on the board so that 
perhaps four feet of it projects all round. Your baggage is 
then arranged along the sleigh, care being taken that it shall 
not be quite as broad as the board. When the load is high 
enough (and it must not exceed sixteen inches) you wrap the 
spare leather over it, tuck in the ends, and lash with raw hide 
rope, made of elk-skin. When travelling with plenty of dogs, 
you often have what is called a carriole with you, in which you 
can sit and go to sleep while your driver manages the dogs. 
The carriole is made of a board of the same size as the sleigh ; 
but three feet from the hind end is placed a piece of board as 
a back, two feet high, which, is kept in its place by cords going 
from end to end and passing over the top of it, and the space 
between the back board and the front of the sleigh is filled up 



DOG-SLEIGHS. 69 

with parchment sides, making a very snug place to take a nap 
in, the motion of the sleigh being very smooth and noiseless. 

Sometimes on a steep slope the driver has to hold a cord in 
his hand to prevent the sleigh going down too rapidly, and 
should he slip or let go his hold the result is disastrous. On 
one occasion we were passing along the side of a hill, and 
Badger was holding a line attached to the end of the sleigh, 
when from some unknown cause he let go, and as I was on the 
sleigh at the time away I went down the hill, winding the dogs 
(who are harnessed singly, one in front of another) round the 
sleigh, thus tying me up and preventing my getting out when 
we reached the bottom. The dogs used for sleighing are 
always savage animals, one remove from wolves, and very few 
of them will allow anyone but their driver to touch them ; so 
on reaching level ground they all began to fight on the top of 
me, and my chances of being bitten were very good indeed, and 
the situation not at all pleasant. The unwinding took some 
time, and was accompanied by a great deal of beating. 

When nearing a fort you generally strike a firmly pressed 
snow road, made by hauling in firewood ; and the dogs 
knowing where they are, always start off at a furious rate, which 
is kept up to the fort, perhaps some eight or ten miles or even 
more ; and should there be any sudden turn in the road, 
round some stump or tree, the sleigh is upset, and then you 
must walk the rest of the distance, as nothing will stop them 
but the sleigh becoming jammed between two trees, and the 
chances of this happening are very small. 



70 A BEAR-HUNT. 



CHAPTER VI. 

A bear-hunt. — Curious story of a bear. — A wolf-hunt. — Indian dogs. — Visit 
Fort Carlton. — Recipe for Rubbiboo. — A ball at Fort Carlion. — Ponies 
wintering in the snow.— Intelligence of sleigh-dogs. — Ingratitude of 
Ki-chi-mo-ko-man. — Tom Boot a thief. Determine to punish him. 
A-ta-ka-koup joins me in the enterprise. Surprise Tom Boot. Tre- 
mendous struggle. Tom Boot receives a thrashing. — Leave our hut for 
Fort Carlton. — Serious difficulty at the river. Nearly starved. Rescued 
by boat. My feet frozen'. — The manufacture of pemmican. — Frozen 
fish. — A professional bear-hunter.— F and I part. — Effect of elo- 
quence on Indians. 

I had always told the Indians who came to see us that if 
they brought us word when they chanced to find a bear's 
wintering-hole we would reward them liberally; so, shortly 
after my return from visiting my friends, an Indian boy came 
to me from Ki-chi-mo-ko-man to tell me that a bear's hole 
had been found, and that I must come at once, as it being now 
the month of March, the bear was likely to come out any time. 
Badger and I therefore started the next morning, taking with 
us two dogs and a small sleigh for our bedding. The crust on 
the snow was good, and we were in excellent training, so that 
we reached Ki-chi-mo-ko-man's bouse late that night, having 
travelled nearly forty miles. 



A BEAR-HUNT. 71 

We found a numoer of Indians camped round Ki-chi-mo-ko- 
man's house,, many of them having been at the big Cree council 
to which I had been summoned. These men told me that they 
did not think I should have been killed, even if old " White 
Hawk" had not taken me under his protection, but that I 
should most certainly have been robbed of all I had with me, 
and have been warned out of the country. 

The following morning Ki-chi-mo-ko-man, Badger, and I 
started for the bear-hole, which was about four miles from the 
cabin, and found that it was in a small thicket of willows, and 
that the only aperture was a breathing-hole, some three inches 
in diameter. An Indian had taken shelter in the bushes during 
a snow-storm, and had discovered the hole by accident. It was 
arranged that Ki-chi-mo-ko-man should stir up the bear, and 
that Badger and I should stand ready — I with a double sixteen- 
bore rifle and Badger with a single Indian trade gun. It took 
a good deal of stirring to make the bear move, and then, with 
a loud grunt, out he came — a half-grown, cinnamon-coloured 
bear — and he was at once rolled over by a shot from the double 
rifle. I was stepping forward to take a nearer view of him, 
when out came another huge bear, which turned out to be the 
-mother, who, taking in the state of affairs at a glance, came 
straight at me. I had snow-shoes on, so I could not run away; 
I therefore took careful aim at her chest, at about ten feet 
distance, with my remaining barrel, and fired. She fell, but I 
think would have been up again in a moment, had not Badger, 
who usually did not display much courage, stepped forward 
and, putting his gun to her head, finished her. Her skin 
measured 7 feet 10 inches by 6 feet 4 inches, and I think she 
weighed 600 lb. 



iZ ANECDOTE OF A BEAR. 

While at Ki-chi-mo-ko-man's, an Indian told me a very 
curious story of a bear, wliich I believe to be true, as all the 
Indians there said it was so. It seems that almost all the 
Plains Indians desert their old people when they are poor and 
cannot pay to be taken care of, and that in the early part of 
that winter some Assineboines, on their way south to kill 
buffalo, had deserted an old womau, giving her, as usual, a 
little food and water, a small axe, and a worn-out lodge, which 
last they put up for her. Soon after the Indians had left her, 
she lighted a fire, and was cooking some food when she fancied 
she saw the snow under the fire heaving up ; and a few minutes 
afterwards the head of a bear came out, evidently only half 
awake. Now the nose of a bear is its most vulnerable point, 
and the old woman knew this ; so she hit it several times with 
the axe, using all her strength, and killed it. She then dragged 
it out and skinned it, and cut up the meat and dried it, and 
lived on this for some weeks, till some Hudson's Bay men, who 
happened to pass, took her into Fort Pitt, where my informant 
told me she then was. 

When with Ki-chi-mo-ko-man I saw one of the very few 
pretty Indian women whom I have ever come across. She was 
the daughter of an old Cree, and had been married to a member 
of the same tribe ; but he was too lazy to provide for her, and 
she had left him and returned to her father. I remained two 
days with Ki-chi-mo-ko-man, going on the second on a wolf- 
hunt, as a great many had been seen round the house ; but we 
only killed two. Our mode of proceeding was to form line and 
beat all the thickets, a number of curs of all kinds assisting, 
and when a wolf was started all the dogs were put on his trail 
and we did our best to keep up. Wolves are thin at that time 



INDIAN DOGS. 73 

of year, and consequently weak, so that we only lost one of 
those which we started. On our way home in the evening we 
came on a lynx, and if there had been sufficient daylight, I think 
we should have killed it, as they generally go up a tree after a 
short chase, and can then be very easily shot ; but it got so 
dark that the dogs ran away from us, and only returned in the 
middle of the night. 

These Indian dogs are very like wolves, and look as if they 
must have some wolf blood in them. When going into an 
Indian camp in the night, it is advisable to carry a thick stick, 
and to call for some Indian to come out and act as guide, or 
you might very easily be killed by them. They collect in 
packs, and though cowards when alone, their number gives them 
courage, and they will attack a man in a moment. If I was in 
an Indian camp and wished to leave it, meaning to return, I 
used always to borrow an Indian's blanket, and cover myself 
entirely with it, when the dogs would come and smell me and 
let me pass. 

On the third day Badger and I returned to our house, and 
after resting the dogs for a day, we started again for the fort 
to arrange for having our horses, which had been herded with 
the fort band, brought out to the house. Travelling was fairly 
good, and we reached the Saskatchawan on the evening of the 
second day, crossing to the fort in the morning. The river is 
here about a hundred yards wide, and runs between banks fully 
two hundred feet high, and on the opposite side stands Fort 
Carlton. 

Mr. L was very glad to see us, but could not give us 

anything but pemmican, as all game had gone south, and no 
fresh meat had been brought into the place for a long time ; 



74 

but he had some potatoes, and with these and some pemmican 
a dish was manufactured called ' ' rubbiboo." The recipe is 
simple ; and I will give it here for the benefit of housekeepers. 
You take as much pemmican as you think will be eaten, and 
having thawed it at the fire, yon beat it up into fibres and put 
it into a frying-pan with some grease. You then take some 
boiled potatoes, and mash them up with a fork, and stir them 
in, adding salt and pepper to taste, and the result is i ' rubbi- 
boo." Eaten hot, and taking care to be very hungry, it is not 
bad, and the hungrier you are the better it will be. 

On the evening of our arrival Mr. L got up a ball for 

us, the company consisting of about twelve or fourteen half- 
breed women, and about twice that number of men — half-breeds 

and Indians — and his wife and himself, Mrs. L being the 

only white woman present. The ball began at 7 p.m., the illu- 
minations being sundry saucers of fish-oil with wicks in them, 
and the refreshments consisting of a glass of whiskey and water 
all round and tea. I have certainly seen more beauty and more 
elaborate dresses, but I never saw a dance kept up with more 
spirit. I began rather diffidently, but soon warmed up, and I 
think I jumped as high and made as much noise as the others, 
which seemed to be all that was required. The dancing was 
kept up till midnight, by which time I was utterly worn out, 
and very glad to turn into my buffalo-bag. I have for- 
gotten to say that the event of the evening was having a dance 

with Mrs. L ,. who kindly gave each of us one turn round 

the room, and as there were nearly thirty of us, this was no 

small undertaking. The steps were extraordinary ; Mrs. L 

valsed, and her partners ran round her, or jumped round, as 
the fancy took them. A good many Indians were present who 



PONIES IN WINTER. 75 

had come from Fort Garry, and might be called partially civi- 
lized ; but a number of Crees, who were in the neighbourhood, 
came and flattened their noses against the windows, and any- 
thing more horrible than they looked under these circumstances 
can hardly be imagined. 

In the morning I borrowed a pony and rode down the river 
some twelve miles to where the fort band of horses was, an 
Indian boy going with me to show me the way ; and I do not 
think I ever saw anything more curious than the appearance 
the prairies, where they had been feeding, presented. The 
ponies are turned out late in the autumn, and have to shift for 
themselves until the following April, and, if judiciously herded, 
they will come up quite fat, though this fat is soft and will not 
last if they are at once worked hard. When the snow becomes 
deep, they scrape a hole and get into it, pawing away the snow 
till they get at the grass, when they will enlarge the hole at the 
bottom, to get as much grass as possible, and when they can 
reach no more they plunge out and make another hole, the 
sides of these holes serving as a protection against the cold 
winds of winter. A prairie after they have left it presents 
much the appearance of a dilapidated piece of honey-comb. 
After arranging that the horses — of which I had three — should 
be brought to my house during the following week, I went back 
to Fort Carlton, and the next morning returned home, taking 
three days to do the journey, a snow-storm having made the 
going soft and hidden our tracks. 

I had while going back an opportunity of watching the won- 
derful intelligence displayed by these sleigh-dogs. I had my 
best train with me, and the trail being bad had put a big 
black dog called " Papillon " in front. This dog's strong 



7G INTELLIGENCE OF SLEIGH-DOGS. 

point was the finding of difficult trails, and now, though the 
snow had covered the trail we had made in coming and had 
made the whole prairie level, yet this dog kept to our old 
road the whole way, rendering it unnecessary to beat a track 
for him. The old trail was only some three inches under- 
neath, and when he got off it he was in deep snow at once, 
but this I never saw him do with more than his fore feet 
during the whole ninety miles, and yet our trail was very 
winding, going round clumps of bushes, trees, &c. continu- 
ally. If I had been racing I should have put my favourite 
dog " Jumper " in front, as he was much the most active dog 
I had, and thoroughly knew what he had to do. My man took 
as much pride in this team as coachmen do in their horses, and 
considered them the fastest team on the river, which they pro- 
bably were. 

Hearing that we were leaving the country, all the Indians 
within twenty miles came in, hoping to get presents, and 
amongst others came Ki-chi-mo-ko-man. Now this Indian 
had hunted with me on several occasions, and though he 
seemed to think that I went to cut wood &c. for him, still 
we had always got on well together, and I had made up my 
mind to give him a good many presents ; so I called him in 
on.e morning and, telling him that I was much obliged to him 
for all he had done for me, and that I hoped I might meet 
him again on some future occasion, I gave him a splendidly- 
coloured blanket, with brilliant stripes at the ends, an axe, two 
hunting-knives, and a number of small things. He thanked 
me very earnestly, and said that he should always remember 
his white brother, and a great deal more to the same effect, and 
then gathered up his presents, which were a large armful, and 



TOM BOOT A THIEF. 77 

was leaving the house, when I missed a small broken pen- 
knife, which was valuable to me as being the only one I had. 
It was broken all to pieces, and had only one sound blade 
remaining ; but Ki-chi-mo-ko-man had taken a fancy to it, 
and had been handling it for some time. On my asking him 
if he had it, he said he had not ; but I saw him close his hand 
on something, and catching hold of his hand, I took the knife 
from it. He got in a great rage, and asked me whether I was 
going to take it away from my red brother, and on my saying 
that I was, he called me mean and everything bad he could 
think of, and said I was no better than all white men, who 
only came for what they could take from the Indians. On 
this I made him put everything down, and turned him out of 
the house, and the whole of that day he remained with his 
back against a tree, looking at the door of the house, hoping 
I would relent ; but finding I took no notice of him, he 
returned to his cabin. 

When I came to look over my things to see what I had to 
give away, I missed a number of articles, and could not find 
them anywhere. Now when your house consists of only one 
room, 16 feet by 13 feet, it is not very easy to lose anything, 
and I concluded that they must have been stolen. Badger was 
away at the time, but on his return I asked him if he knew 
anything about them, on which he told me, w r ith great reluct- 
ance, that while I was on my last hunt with A-ta-ka-koup, 
Tom Boot had come and had taken a number of things, telling 
Badger that I was going away and would never need them, 
and threatening to beat Badger if he told me : he also said 
that if I followed him to try to get the things back he would 
shoot me ; and yet this man would have starved during that 



78 WE PUNISH TOM BOOT. 

winter if I had not given him food. I at once went to see 
A-ta-ka-koup, and asked him if he would go with me to try 
and recover my property. Now A-ta-ka-koup had never for- 
given Tom Boot for having thrown him against the logs of the 
house, and this looked like a good chance of being even with 
him. I made A-ta-ka-koup promise not to carry any weapon, 
though I had a revolver hidden away myself, and finding from 
some Indians, who were camped by my house, that Tom Boot 
was encamped about twenty miles due south of us, we started 
one morning, and reached the small prairie on which his lodge 
stood before evening, A-ta-ka-koup went ahead to recon- 
noitre, and remained in hiding till he saw Tom Boot go into 
his lodge, when he returned to me. Our plan was as follows : 
we were to creep up to the lodge after the fire was out, and 
we might suppose that Tom was in bed, when we were to 
enter quietly — A-ta-ka-koup jumping on his shoulders and I 
on his legs, and then we were to tie him, if possible, and 
recover my property. 

We remained on the edge of the prairie for two hours after 
sundown, and until I thought I should be frozen, when we 
crept up to the lodge and peeped in. Everything was quiet, 
and we could hear Tom's heavy breathing ; so we went in. 
A-ta-ka-koup sprang on one end of Tom and I on the other, 
and then began an awful struggle. I know I was thrown 
about like a ball, and got some terrible blows, but fortunately 
from bare feet. 

After what seemed an hour, and might have been only five 
minutes, of this, we managed to tie him with buckskin thongs, 
and were able to get up. In the meantime his wife, who had 
at first taken us for hostile Indians killing her husband and 



LEAVE FOR FORT CARLTON. 79 

had bolted, was screaming in the distance ; so I sent A-ta-ka- 
konp to tell her what it was all about, on which she returned 
and tried to untie Tom, and when we prevented her she 
attacked us with an axe ; and it was only when A-ta-ka-koup 
threatened to kill her that she desisted, and sat down and cried. 
Tom Boot refused to speak, so we gave him a good beating with 
a raw hide rope, took such things of mine that we could find, 
and left, telling him that if he came near my house again he 
would be shot at once. 

We camped about two miles from the scene of our struggle, 
both of us being worn out ; and I know that I felt as if I had 
had a severe beating myself. On reaching home the next day, 
I found the horses had arrived and were looking very well and 
fat; though of course very rough in their coats. They were 
the three best I had bought for buffalo running the year before, 
and the one I intended to ride to Fort Garry was the fastest 
horse in the Red River settlement, the other two being nearly 
as good. Not one of them was more than 14 \ hands, but they 
were very strongly built. 

On the 7th of April we started for Carlton for the last time, 
Badger driving a sleigh whilst I rode one horse and led the 
other two. The spring had not yet set in ; but the sun was 
very warm and the snow was melting fast, so travelling was very 
bad indeed. Badger had left his wife and child with A-ta-ka- 
koup. 

We had given away so much that the sleigh was very lightly 
loaded, there being nothing on it but our bedding and guns, 

with F sitting on the top. On the evening of the third 

day we reached the north bank of the Saskatchawan, to find 
that the ice was just breaking up, and that we were too late to 



80 SERIOUS DIFFICULTY AT THE RIVER. 

cross. Now this was serious, as we had very little to eat and 
had given away most of our blankets, intending to get new ones 
at the Fort ; however, there was no help for it, and we had to 
camp, and by lying very close together we managed to get 
through the night fairly comfortably, or at least Badger and I 
did so ; but F declared that he was frozen stiff when day- 
light appeared, and we only thawed him by lighting a fire on 
both sides of him. 

Mr. L and a number of the men from the Fort came 

down to the opposite bank during the next day; but they could 
do nothing for us, as the ice was now coming down in immense 
masses, and from the way in which the smaller pieces were 
ground up by the larger ones, we saw w 7 hat our fate would be 
should we attempt to cross. Our only chance was to find some 
game, so Badger and I took a horse each and hunted up and 
down the banks for miles, getting only three grouse and a few 
squirrels ; we also saw a band of antelope in the distance, but 
were not able to stalk them on account of the ground being 
covered with half -melted snow and water. 

On the afternoon of the third day F was so miserable that 

I shouted across, offering ten pounds if they would bring a boat 
over, and I saw them go away to fetch one. Towards evening, 
a heavy flat-bottomed boat was in the water, and three strong 
half-breeds were poling her across, keeping off the masses of 
ice with great difficulty, and in ten minutes they were in our 
camp. Of course the horses had to be left, so we turned them 
loose, and getting into the boat we were soon in the Fort. 
Here I found that my feet had been partially frozen, and they 
had to be put into iced water to thaw them ; as the circulation 
slowly returned it was curious to see small icicles form on them, 



PEMMICAN. 81 

which adhered quite firmly , while the pain was very great. It 
is quite common for men to lose fingers or toes, and in some 
cases one half of the foot. As it was, I only lost some of the 
nails and a small portion of oue toe. This laid me up for 
some days, during which nothing could exceed the kindness of 

Mr. L to both F and myself. There was no food but 

pemmican ; but we were always hungry, and soon got to like it 
when in the form of " rubbiboo " and used to eat an enormous 
amount of it. 

I have said nothing about the manufacture of pemmican, so 
I may as well do so here, as it is a lost art now that the buffalo 
has disappeared. The buffalo-meat is first cut up into thin 
slices and dried in the sun or over smoke until it is as 
hard as leather ; then the skin is taken raw, cut square, and 
sewn into a bag about three feet long by eighteen inches wide^ 
with the hair outside. The meat is then taken and beaten with 
a flail until it is all fibres, and the fat is melted in large kettles 
and about three inches of the bag is filled with boiling fat ; 
an equal quantity of fibre is then put into it and is beaten down 
with a heavy stick used as a rammer, then more fat is poured 
in and more fibre ; and so on till the bag is full. It is then 
sewn up with raw hide or sinew and beaten flat, and is ready for 
use. Thus prepared it will keep for three years, only becoming 
dry with age, unless it is kept in a damp place, when it becomes 
mouldy. Sometimes it is made with buffalo-marrow instead of 
fat, in which case it is rather nice, as the marrow always remains 
soft ; and again I have eaten it with sweet berries in it, which 
is also an improvement. Its appearance is against it, as it very 
much resembles what we call dog-greaves in England, and it is 
cut up in the same way, with an axe. It is said that on no 



82 A PROFESSIONAL BEAR-HUNTER. 

food but this can a man do so much work or go so far, which 
seems likely, as it is one half fat. In the Hudson's Bay 
Company it is the regular winter food for all the employes, or 
I should say was till the buffalo was exterminated, which is 
now practically the case. 

Further north, a great many white fish are caught in nets set 
through holes in the ice, and these are nearly as nourishing as 
pemmican. A man gets 2 lb. of pemmican or 6 fish a day, and 
a dog when in work the same. When not working, these last 
are supposed to require no food, or at all events they do not get 
it. In cooking two fish, which is generally done by standing a 
frying-pan with them in it in front of the fire at a considerable 
angle, the men get generally about a quarter of a pint of oil, 
these fish being very fat, and this they burn in their *lamps. 
It is a curious sight to see the frozen fish stacked in the 
yards of the northern forts, each being as hard as a stone, 
and in this state they are kept five or six months. 

On this occasion I met at the Fort the first Indian I ever 

knew who was a professional bear-hunter, and this he continued 

to be in spite of the dreadful manner in which one bear had 

torn him. His only weapon was what is called a trade gun. 

This man was following the trail of a large grizzly, and coming 

on him very suddenly the bear charged him ; he at once fired 

steadily at the horse-shoe on the chest but failed to stop him, 

and knowing that he could not escape by running, and that a 

bear will very seldom touch any portion of a living man but his 

face, he threw himself down and held his face firmly to the 

ground; the bear came up and tried to turn him over, but 

failing in this bit one of his legs and then sat down and looked 

at him for a minute; he then got up and walked off slowly, 



AND I PART. 83 



thinking, I presume, that the man had died very suddenly. Now 
if the Indian had remained quietly where he was until the bear 
had left the place all would have been well, but he got up 
before it was out of sight, and the bear hearing him chased him. 
The Indian threw himself down in the same position, but the 
bear was not to be taken in a second time and tried hard to 
turn him over, tearing off the whole scalp in his efforts, when 
the man fainted, and on coming to himself found that he had 
been bitten in three or four places, and that the whole of the 
skin was gone from the top of his head. When I saw him he 
had a bandana handkerchief bound round his forehead, and on 
taking this off, I saw that he had been entirely scalped, the 
skin being gone nearly to the eyes. In spite of this he was the 
best bear-hunter on the Saskatchawan, and made a fair living 
by selling the skins. 

The time had now come for F and I to part, as he wished 

to continue his journey to the mines in British Columbia, and 
I found that he would not have much difficulty in getting to 
Fort Edmonton, near the head waters of the river, whence 
parties of Hudson's Bay men often crossed the mountains to 
the Fraser River, where the mines were. It was arranged that 
he should remain at Carlton till the spring had set in, and then 
join the first party going up the river. 

I had been able to buy a little corn at the Fort, so that my 
horses, which had been brought across, were now in very 
fair condition, and by riding them gently at first we hoped 
to do the six hundred miles to Fort Garry in about 
twenty days. I laid in a few provisions, such as tea 
and sugar, flour, salt, and pemmican, these being all I 
could get, and one of the half-breeds made me a very good 

g2 



84 A FAREWELL PARTY. 

pack-saddle for our third horse, so that we were ready to 
start. 

I arranged to leave the bloodhound at the Fort, as the 

journey would have been too much for him, Mr. L 

promising to send him down at the first opportunity. A 
farewell supper was given in my honour, at which the only dish 
was " rubbiboo," and we wound up the evening with a dance, 
not getting to bed till after midnight. At the end of the 

evening F gave a recitation from " Julius Csesar," which 

impressed the Indians very much. He had been an actor for 
some years, and remembered portions of a great many plays, 
and these he would recite with a blanket round him " a la 
toga." Some of his performances at our cabin before a large 
and select audience of Indians had been most successful, 
though they did not understand one word of what he said. No 
people admire eloquence more than Indians do, and a man who 
can speak well can do what he likes with them. This was 
shown very clearly in the case of " Sitting Bull," the supposed 
murderer of General Custer in 1876. He was chief of a very 
small band of Sioux, and he raised himself by his eloquence to 
be chief of the whole nation. 



DELAYED IN OUR START FROM FORT CARLTON. 85 



CHAPTER VII. 

An Indian swims the Saskatchawan. — Start from Fort Carlton.— Prairie 
fire and narrow escape. — Unpleasant surprise. — A Sioux camp. Inter- 
view with the chief. Suspicious circumstances. A parley with the 
chief. — A fight and a race for life. — Our mode of travelling. — Arrival at 
Fort Garry. Our miserable appearance. — The composition of galette. 
— The Sioux outbreak and cause. — Threat to sack Fort Garry. — Enmity 
between English and French half-breeds. — My new guide, and his 
character. — Kindness of the citizens. — Start from Fort Garry and 
method of travelling. — Desolation of the country. — My first night in 
a bed and consequences. — Taken for a half-breed scout. — Expedition 
against the Indians. Its utter failure. — Death of Little Crow. — Exe- 
cution of Indians. — Start for England. 

On the morning of the 17th of April, Badger and I got every- 
thing ready for our start ; but we were delayed for some 
hours by the arrival of an Indian, with a waggon and a pair 
of ponies, on the opposite side of the river. I heard a great 
deal of shouting going on^ and went down to see what it 
meant. It seemed that the Carlton ferry-boat had not yet been 
put into the river, there being still a good deal of ice going- 
down, and the Indian was urging them to put it in at once. 
This they refused to do, nor would it have been of much use 
to this man if they had consented, as stretching the rope 



86 A FOOLHARDY INDIAN. 

across the river and arranging the apparatus would have taken 
an entire day. 

Finding that they would not do as he wished, the Indian 
shouted to us, to say that he should swim the river — waggon 
and all; and this he prepared to do, driving down to the edge 
of the water, and fastening all he had with him on the seat, 
which was a board placed across the waggon, and this he 
secured with a rope. Everything was done to prevent his 
trying to cross, but to no purpose, and we saw him drive into 
the river — the ponies seeming rather to like it. As soon as he 
was clear of the bank the current carried him rapidly down, 
and we had to walk fast to keep abreast of him. The ponies' 
heads showed plainly, and they seemed to be swimming 
strongly and to be gaining ground — their driver standing on 
the seat, and urging them on with wild shouts. Once they 
struck a sand-bar when more than half over, but they plunged 
off again, and reached the bank more than half a mile below 
the fort, at an angle of the river where it was shallow. It 
was impossible to drive up at this point; but the ponies were 
brought up, and the waggon was left to be carried up in 
sections. 

All this prevented our getting off till the afternoon, and we 
only made some ten or twelve miles that night, camping on a 
small stream running into the Saskatchawan, having crossed 
the south branch of that river. A great number of wolves 
came to serenade us that night, seeming to know that we were 
leaving the country. We fired at several of them, as it was a 
beautiful moonlight night, but we did not get any. 

The next day we were up at dawn, and as our breakfast was 
not a very tempting one, we were soon off, and made, I should 



A PRAIRIE FIRE. 87 

think, about thirty miles by sunset. The country was unin- 
teresting, being what is called a rolling prairie, covered with 
small ponds, on which were a few ducks, and of these we 
managed to shoot three, and when they were split open and 
broiled they made us a capital supper. 

The first eleven days of our journey were very uneventful, 
the only incident being the unsuccessful stalk of a white -tailed 
deer and the shooting of two wolves ; but on the night of the 
twelfth day we were awoke by feeling our feet burning, and on 
jumping up we found the whole prairie on one side of us on fire, 
and three sides of a large blanket on which we were sleeping 
quite black. We at once rushed to the horses, pulled up the 
picket-pins, and rode them into a swamp, by the side of which 
we had camped in order to get willows for our beds. We 
then rescued our bedding, or what remained of it, and our 
rifles, which, lying in the middle of the blanket, had escaped 
damage, and joined the horses in the swamp. The fire soon 
passed us, leaving the whole country a black desert, the ponds 
and a little marshy ground round them being the only green 
spots — not a pleasant prospect for us, as we had to follow the 
fire, our journey lying in the same direction. There was no 
use in going to bed again ; so we had breakfast and started at 
once, making a long day's journey. We hoped to find that 
the fire had been stopped by some large stream, but all those 
which we passed during the day had been too small for the 
purpose, and the fire had leaped over them. We had therefore 
to camp by a swamp, and picket our horses in it, their only 
food being the wet rushes, which were very bad for them, as 
such food is very likely to give them colic. 

I noticed that Badger had been in very bad spirits all day, 



8S A SIOUX CAMP. 

and I found on questioning him that he felt sure that hostile 
Indians were near us, and that the fire of the past night was 
an attempt by some small party of them to stampede our 
horses. Knowing that we were in friendly Indian country, 
I did not agree with him, and in any case there was nothing 
for it but to push -on. The following day we got into an un- 
burnt prairie again, the fire having taken a turn to the south, 
as there was a good deal of wind blowing in that direction, and 
a small stream, which sufficed to turn it. 

On the fourteenth day of our ride, we were off late, having 
made another unsuccessful attempt to stalk some antelopes ; 
but these had been so much frightened by the fire, and the 
ground was so bare, that we could get no nearer than three 
hundred yards — too far for a round-ball rifle. 

Some time afterwards we fancied we saw a mounted man 
disappear behind a hill ahead of us ; but as we saw nothing 
more of him, we concluded it must have been an elk, and we 
were riding along carelessly, when, on mounting a ridge, we 
found ourselves close to a small Indian camp of nine lodges. 
They were so elaborately painted and so large that Badger at 
once said they must be Sioux ; but it was too late to retreat, 
and the man we had seen was in the middle of the camp talk- 
ing to some sixty or seventy Indians, who were evidently 
expecting us, as there was no surprise expressed at our appear- 
ance. As we rode up the Indians retired into their lodges, 
only some boys remaining to look at us, and we noticed that 
there seemed to be no women with them. 

The proper thing to do on arriving at an Indian camp is to 
enter the chief's tent, so we looked round, and seeing a spear 
and a number of scalps hanging over the door of the largest of 



SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. 89 

them, we entered, and found three Indians seated round the 
fire. A very tall, black-looking Indian seemed to be the chief, 
so I motioned to Badger to sit on one side of him, while I 
seated myself on the other. All three Indians stared straight 
at the fire, and I was sure that something was wrong ; so I 
determined to put the matter beyond doubt, and lighting my 
pipe, I passed it round. Now no greater insult can be offered 
to a man by an Indian than to refuse to smoke with him, and 
yet all these men passed my pipe back to me — not one taking 
a single whiff. 

Badger recommended our starting at once, but I was very 
hungry, and helped myself to some boiled buffalo-meat from 
a pot on the fire, Badger doing the same. It gave me a 
curious feeling, sitting by those three silent Indians, who 
were probably our deadly enemies, and old stories of Indian 
atrocities came back to me in a very unpleasant manner. I 
had a large Tranter revolver and Badger had a Colt; but what 
could we do against seventy men ? It was a bad sign that no 
other Indians came into the lodge, and the camp was unnatu- 
rally quiet — a few low, muttered sounds being all we could 
hear. They had no dogs with them, which I could not under- 
stand then, though I did so afterwards, and there being boys, 
and yet no women, was another unusual circumstance. 

As soon as we had eaten all we wanted of the meat, I told 
Badger to go outside and tighten up girths, and mount, and 
that I would join him on hearing that he was ready. This he 
did, and in a few minutes called to me, on which I rose and 
backed to the door, not caring to give them a chance of stab- 
bing me behind. On getting outside I found Badger mounted, 
and holding my horse with one hand and the pack-horse with 



90 PARLEY WITH THE CHIEF. 

the other, so I took mine, and put my foot in the stirrup to 
mount, when the saddle — which was only an Indian one, and 
fastened on with a surcingle — turned partially round, and I 
had to undo it and put it straight, and this I was proceeding 
to do when the chief and his two friends came out, and at 
the same time the other Indians — who Badger said had been 
watching him from the doors of their tents — also appeared. 
The chief came up to me and, pushing me on one side, asked, 
in very bad Cree, how I dared to come hunting on his terri- 
tory. He then said he was a big chief, and owned all the 
country round, and that he hated the white men, who had 
never done him anything but harm. I answered through 
Badger, who had translated most of this, that he was not a 
Cree at all (for we had found out from his dress, and especially 
from his moccasins, that he was a Sioux) and had no right to 
be where we found him ; that I had seen one man of his tribe 
tortured by the Crees for being where he then was, and that a 
similar fate awaited him if he did not at once leave and go 
south ; but that, so far as I was concerned, I was an English- 
man and friendly with all Indians. He answered that he could 
not be my friend, but that if I would give him my horses and 
rifles, I was free to go where I wished. I of course said that 
this was impossible, as I was a long way from home, and in a 
country where game was very scarce and hard to get even when 
one was armed, but that if I gave up my rifle I must die ; I 
was willing, I said, to exchange horses with him, he giving me 
two for one, as mine were so much better than his. On this 
he took my horse by the bridle and was leading him away, and 
when I stopped him he opened his blanket and hit at my head 
with a long club which he had concealed under it. I had 



! 

CD 
CO 




OUR ESCAPE. 93 

unbuttoned my holster, but I was too late in drawing my 
revolver, so I threw up my left arm to ward off the blow, which 
broke the arm above the elbow and cut my head open. I 
drew my revolver and fired at him, hitting him in the chest, 
and thinking that I could not possibly get away, I fired at him 
a second time, the ball taking him in the throat just as he 
staggered back. I then put my back against my horse, which 
being used to firing had stood quite still, and faced the other 
Indians. These, on seeing their chief fall rushed into their 
tents, and I knew they had gone for their guns, so making a 
desperate effort, I scrambled on to my horse and rode off, 
Badger having already started and being some distance in 
advance. A good many shots were fired at me during the 
first few hundred yards, but I lay forward on my horse, and 
thev all missed me, though some of them seemed to come pretty 
close. I soon caught up Badger and told him that he had to 
stick to me or I would shoot him, and being little more than a 
boy, only twenty-one, he was so frightened that I do not think 
he wished to leave me. 

The Indians' horses were several hundred yards from their 
camp, and it took them fully ten minutes to get them and 
saddle up, but at the end of that time we saw them coming 
strung out in a long line. We were fully two miles ahead by 
this time, and we kept our horses at three-quarters speed, which 
we found prevented their gaining on us. As we rode along 
Badger and I consulted as to our best route, as he knew the 
country well, and so far as I could judge from what he said, for 
an Indian or an half-breed has a very poor idea of miles, we 
were nearly three hundred miles from Fort Garry, the first 
settlement being some twenty miles nearer — a fearfully long 



94 A RACE FOR LIFE. 

ride for one's life on grass-fed horses. Ours were certainly 
much faster than those of the Indians, but these last, though 
small, are used to hard work and poor fare, and to being ridden 
long distances without resting, and we knew that the Indians 
would not hesitate to use the points of their knives to drive 
them along. We were going from two o'clock in the afternoon 
till nearly seven in the evening, when we were able to take a 
rest, as the moon rose late and it was very dark. 

The Indians, though wonderful trackers, could not follow us 
until morning, as the moon did not give sufficient light for 
tracking, so we determined to throw them off the scent if 
possible, and after Badger had bound my arm across my chest 
with strips cut from my leather hunting-shirt, we started again 
at midnight and rode about two miles due north, choosing a 
hard rocky ridge, as it would not leave much trail, and then we 
again rode in the proper direction, which was due east. 

Up to this time my arm had not been very painful, having 
been apparently numbed by the blow ; but it had been swinging 
about for five hours, and when we came to examine it we found 
that the bone had come through the skin in one place. Badger 
bound it up very well and fastened it firmly; but the pain was 
now very great, and nothing but the certainty of being tortured 
if caught kept me going. Up to about nine o'clock the next 
morning we thought that our ruse had been a success, but 
then the Indians appeared again, running the trail like blood- 
hounds. We had, however, fully three miles start and 
managed to keep it all day, though we had to make frequent 
halts to breathe our horses. That night we passed in some 
heavy timber, where I remember that the noise made by insects 
was so great as to resemble that made by a threshing-machine 









OUR PLAN OF TRAVELLING. 95 

a hundred yards away. Here we seriously discussed the 
possibility of making some kind of a shelter with trunks of 
trees, and keeping the Indians off, in the hopes that some 
friendly Indians might come up and drive them away; but the 
state of my arm finally decided us to give up the idea, as it was 
very much swollen and looked as if it might mortify. I kept 
cold water on it continually, and as we passed ponds at 
frequent intervals, I could keep the bandages cool. 

Our plan of travelling was to halt soon after sunset, when 
Badger rubbed down the horses and staked them out, watering 
them when cool ; we then slept, or tried to do so, for about 
three or four hours, when we mounted and rode at a canter till 
nearly daylight. The horses had then two hours more rest and 
were rubbed down again, working the sinews of the legs well 
with the hands, after which we mounted and rode all day, 
getting off now and then for a few minutes. By these means, 
we had gained a good many miles on the Indians, who some- 
times did not come in sight till nearly twelve o'clock, when the 
fast riding began. 

Badger behaved splendidly during the ride, and was very 
hopeful of our escaping. The horses were getting very thin, 
and we had to throw away nearly all our pack, including a 
rifle and a lot of ammunition, breaking the former so that it 
might be of no use to our pursuers. On the morning of the 
fourth day, our ride having lasted three days and three nights, 
we came to the first house, which was inhabited by a man with 
his wife and one child. When they heard that the Sioux were 
only a few miles behind us, they got in two horses, and leaving 
everything, joined us. 

YVe saw the Indians once during the morning from a high 



96 AEKIVE AT FORT GARRY. 

mound, but soon afterwards we came to five or six more houses, 
the inhabitants of which turned out armed and rode out to 
meet the Indians, a body of nearly twenty men, and we were 
safe. 

I do not suppose that two more miserable-looking wretches 
ever rode into a settlement than ourselves. For four days we 
had not used water, and our clothes were dirty and a mass of 
rags ; then, too, my hair had not been cut for nearly a year, and 
I was the colour of light mahogany. We stopped at the first 
house, and one of the women dressed my arm for me, after 
which we went to bed and stayed there for nearly twenty hours ; 
then we had a good meal of pork and potatoes, and in the 
afternoon rode on to Fort Garry, where we attracted a good 
deal of attention, our horses being mere bags of bones. 

Riding through the settlement, for there was no town there 
at that time, I met a good many people whom I bad known 
the previous year, and all of them were very anxious to know 
where I had turned up from, and wby I was in my present 
condition ; but I only answered them by asking for the baker's 
shop, as some new bread seemed to me the one thing of all 
others that I most desired, for no one who has not gone with- 
out it for months can imagine what the craving for it is. I had 
eaten nothing but " galette " in camp or in my log cabin 
during the winter, and at Fort Carlton had only got rolls made 
with soda. 

I may as well mention that " galette" is made of flour, 
water, and " saleratus/'' mixed as dough and formed into flat 
cakes, one of which is then put into the frying-pan, and this is 
placed in front of the fire ; when the cake gets stiff it is taken 
out and put by the fire with a stick to keep it up, another is 



THE SIOUX OUTBREAK. 97 

then put in the frying-pan, and so on till you have cooked 
enough for the party. It is not bad when hot, but only fit for 
making bullets when cold. 

When I reached the baker's, and was given a new loaf and a 
pound of butter, I ate them in about equal proportions, and do 
not think I ever enjoyed anything so much in my life. 

At that time there was no hotel of any kind in the settle- 
ment, so that one of the settlers kindly put me up, and I soon 
recovered from my fatigue, while a half-breed doctor set my 
arm after a fashion. 

I found the place in a state of great excitement, and it 
seemed that the outbreak of the Sioux Indians, to which I have 
before referred, and which took place the previous year while 
we were on our way to the settlement, had culminated in an 
awful massacre, nearly 1400 men, women, and children having 
been murdered in one night, under circumstances of dreadful 
barbarity. These Indians had plundered the whole of Minne- 
sota with the exception of three or four towns, had burned all 
the settlers' houses, and had carried off a number of women 
and a great many cattle. The United States' troops had been 
sent to the spot and had scattered " Little Crow's " band for a 
time, but could not catch any of them, and it was some of the 
members of this band who had chased me. 

It appears that when " Little Crow " was driven from Min- 
nesota he took refuge in British territory, collecting his scat- 
tered men, till he was said to have more than 1200 warriors 
under him, and with these he now marched on Fort Garry, 
sending a runner to say that unless he was given so much 
money and so many horses, &c, he would sack the settlement. 
There really was no danger if the half-breeds would only work 



98 MY NEW GUIDE. 

together ; but this they never would do, being always divided 
into two parties, English and French, very jealous of one 
another and frequently coming to blows. The settlement in 
addition was so scattered that it was impossible to defend it 
all, and many of the settlers were for bribing a Little Crow " 
to go away, though fortunately these were outvoted, and a body 
of rangers was raised, but this was not until I had left. 

Being anxious to reach a town and have my arm properly 
attended to, I made enquiries as to the best way of going to 
St. Paul's. The distance was about six hundred miles, and no 
houses would be found on the way, everything having been 
burned by the Sioux, who were scattered all over the first half 
of that distance. 

None of the half-breeds to whom I spoke seemed willing to 
act as guide, and I began to think of trying it without a guide, 
taking Badger with me, when I heard of a French half-breed 
called Isidore Maronde, who lived some ten or twelve miles north 
of the Fort, who, everyone said, would face anything for money. 
He bore a bad character, being rather too ready to use his 
knife in a quarrel ; but this was a small matter, so I sent for 
him. His appearance was not in his favour, his face being a 
bad one ; but he was a very fine man physically, and was said 
to have been in many fights with the Indians. He at once 
said that it was only a question of money, as he was quite 
ready to face the " Devil " himself if properly paid for it ; and 
it was at last arranged that for guiding me to St. Paul's and 
getting back the best way he could, he was to have £50 in 
money, a fine double gun of mine, and the three horses which 
we should use on the road. 

The next thing to do was to find the horses, for although I 



PREPARING TO LEAVE FORT GARRY. 99 

should have liked to have taken on the three horses which I had 
brought from the Saskatchawan, they were so utterly worn 
out that it was doubtful whether they would ever be worth any- 
thing again, and in any case it would be months before they 
could be ridden on such a journey as that which I was about to 
undertake. I let it be known therefore that I wanted three fast 
horses, strong enough to carry heavy loads for six hundred 
miles in fourteen or fifteen days, and I very soon had several 
hundreds brought to me. 

In those days the half-breeds lived almost entirely on buffalo 
meat, going twice a year for a big hunt on the prairie to get it, 
and bringing home dried meat and pemmican in the spring and 
fresh meat in the early winter. These hunts necessitated their 
owning a great many horses, and these from the hard life they 
led, and the amount of galloping they got after buffalo, could 
go almost any distance on nothing but grass, and over all kinds 
of ground without falling. We selected three of the best of 
these, and had them well fed and exercised for several days ; 
we also bought a new outfit, provisions, &c, taking nothing 
but what was absolutely necessary, and our weapons consisted 
of a shot gun and two revolvers. It was of no use our taking 
rifles with any idea of making a fight of it, in case we should 
meet Indians, but a shot gun might be of use in procuring us 
food, as grouse and ducks abounded. Nothing could exceed 
the kindness of the inhabitants of Fort Garry, the Bishop, 
Dr. Anderson, kindly offering me a carriage and pair to take 
me down to St. Paul's, saying that he did not care if he never 
saw it again ; but this would have been a novel way of travelling 
through a dangerous Indian country, especially as we were 
going where there were no roads. 

h2 



100 OUR JOURNEY. 

On the 2nd of May we said good-bye to everyone, and got 
off abont five o'clock in the afternoon, a good many settlers 
coming a short distance with us, and bidding us adieu as if 
they never expected to see us again. Our idea was to ride at 
night, hiding away in -the daytime, and this we did throughout 
the journey. 

The whereabouts of cc Little Crow" and his band was known, 
so that we could avoid him, but there were small parties of his 
warriors wandering about all over northern Minnesota and 
southern Dacotah, through which territories our road lay, and 
we had to be constantly on the watch. Maronde used to ride 
ahead at a canter, and I followed, leading the pack-horse, which 
was fastened to my sound arm. Now and then we saw fires, 
and had to make a detour to avoid them, and several times we 
heard shots fired, but this was during the day, when we were 
well hidden in some thicket or under the bank of a river. Our 
horses, though not so good as those I had ridden from Carlton, 
were very fair and in capital condition, and we frequently 
went at a canter for hours. We passed several burnt farm- 
houses, and in front of some of these there was a row of graves, 
showing where the soldiers had buried the dead. 

The first inhabited house which we reached was near a small 
settlement called St. Cloud, and here we had our first good 
sleep, for it takes a long time to get used to turning day into 
night. There were only two small rooms and a "lean-to" 
used as a kitchen, one of the two rooms being a bedroom and 
the other the living-room. I found a number of lumberers 
staying there, and as I said I had not slept in a bed for ten 
nights I was given the only bed, and thought I was most lucky, 
though I had afterwards reason to change my mind. 






A COMFORTABLE BED ! 101 

We had arrived about eleven o'clock in the morning, and 
having passed the dangerous portion of our journey, we deter- 
mined to take a day's rest, so remained until the following 
morning. When night came I took possession of my small 
room, the lumberers and my guide sleeping on the floor of the 
living-room, and my host and his wife in the stable. The first 
feeling was delightful, and I was just luxuriating in it when I 
felt something at my neck, and a little later it felt as if I had 
a blister on. I got up and lighted the candle, and found the 
pillow alive with B flats; they swarmed everywhere and the 
wails, or rather logs, were also covered with them. It was out 
of the question trying to sleep there, so I put on some of my 
things and went into the outer room, stumbling over a man as 
I did so, He asked me what was the matter, and on my telling 
him he laughed at me, and said I was a pretty frontiersman to 
care for such trifles, and that if I was not going to use the bed 
he would do so, and he proceeded to move his things into my 
room, while I took his place on the floor. I had just got off 
to sleep when out he came again, using most unparliamentary 
language, and declaring that he had been very nearly lifted out 
of bed. 

Of course I had a good laugh at him, when he and I 
adjourned to the stable, where we finished the night very com- 
fortably on some hay. 

The next day we rode into St. Paul's, and after putting our 
horses into a livery stable, we went to the principal hotel in the 
place. Here they were at first disposed to refuse us admission, 
till I reminded the landlord of my having been there the year 
before, and of my having left some things in his charge. 

Dinner was just beginning, so I washed my hands and went 



102 TAKEN FOR A SCOUT. 

in, my dress consisting of a leather shirt, leather trousers and 
moccasins, and a fur cap, all of them being very much the 
worse for wear. Maronde, after looking into the dining-room 
and seeing some ladies, refused to go in, and was accommodated 
elsewhere. My appearance caused quite a sensation in the 
room, and there was a great deal of whispering among the 
guests, and a waiter was sent to find out who 1 was. Among 
those present was a general officer of the United States' Army 
and his staff, many of the latter having their wives with them, 
and I had not been long at table when an aide-de-camp came 
to tell me to go to the General at once, he evidently taking me 
for a half-breed scout. I sent to say that I would come when 
I had finished my dinner, and on my going to him, the General 
apologized for his apparent discourtesy, although he did not 
tell me what he had taken me for, nor could I blame him 
much for the mistake he had made, when I looked at myself in 
a full-length glass. 

I found that he had been sent to take command of some 
twelve hundred men who were about to march against the 
Indians, and was therefore anxious to get any information he 
could as to their whereabouts, the nature of the country, and 
of the best route to take. 

I told him that the men he was taking with him would be of 
very little service against such enemies, being almost entirely 
infantry, and I advised him to raise a body of rangers from the 
half-breeds of the Red River, any one of whom was equal to 
two Indians; but I could not get him to agree with me, as he was 
quite new to this kind of fighting. I told him that the Indians 
would hang round his line of march, cutting off stragglers and 
shooting his sentries, they themselves being always invisible. 



EXECUTION OF INDIANS. 103 

Events turned out as I had predicted : the expedition started, 
saw a few Indians in the distance whom they failed to catch, 
remained out about three months, harassed in every way by 
the Indians, and returned having done nothing. 

In the meantime, " Little Crow's " band, finding themselves 
cut off from their hunting-grounds, rose against their leader, 
who fled to Fort Garry and was shot by a Scotch settler, for 
the price put on his head by the U.S. Government. His men 
came in and gave themselves up, and were tried by court- 
martial, some three hundred of them being condemned to be 
hung. This wholesale sentence was, however, not carried out, 
orders being sent from Washington that all the Indians should 
be retried, and eventually only thirty-two or three were hung 
at Mankato, a square platform being erected, round the sides of 
which they were executed. 

Curiously enough, while walking one day in the streets of 
St. Paul's, I found among a number of photographs of Indians 
a portrait of the man who had broken my arm, whose name 
was Ki-chi-ma-ka-ses, " the Little Fox/' and who was chief of 
one section of the Sioux. He had come frequently into St. 
Paul's before the massacre, and had been photographed, as had 
also " Little Crow " and many other Sioux. I found there was 
a reward of a thousand dollars on his head; but it would not 
have been advisable to have stopped in St. Paul's on the chance 
of getting it, as there was no one, except Badger, to prove that 
I had killed him. 

I went to a surgeon about my arm, and found that the half- 
breed doctor had merely tied some splints round it, and that 
now it was too late to do anything, the bones having set 
themselves, giving me a stiff arm for life, but not interfering 



104 LEAVE FOR ENGLAND. 

much with its use for shooting, riding, &c. He said nothing 
but the healthy life I had been leading had prevented mortifi- 
cation from setting in. 

I left St. Paul's for England soon after this, and thus ended 
my first trip to America. 






RETCRN TO AMERICA. 105 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Return to America.— Start for Kansas. — Warning against obliging strangers. 
— The town of Troy. — Horse-racing. A soft thing. — A breakdown. — 
A wrestling-match. — My new man Fox. His objection to sheriffs. — 
The settlement of White Rock. Its history. — A happy hunting-ground. 
— A Tenderfoot's first run with buffalo. He prefers walking. — A 
wonderful mare. I buy her. — Trying Brown's courage. — Appearance 
of Indians near camp. 

I retained such pleasant memories of my visit to the prairies in 
1862 that I determined to go again ; so I left England in Jnne 
1866 j intending to hnnt during the summer on the prairies of 
Kansas, and to winter wherever I conld hear of there being 
plenty of game. 

I started alone, but came across a young Englishman on the 
steamer who had a great desire to see the West, so we arranged 
to go together. After a short stay in Canada, we reached St. 
Joseph's, Missouri, where we intended to fit out. And here 
let me warn anyone who may think of doing as I did to 
beware of specious men who offer to buy horses, mules, and 
outfit for them, on the plea that they know the people and 
their ways, and can save them a lot of money. I am of course 
speaking of total strangers, who come up and introduce them- 



106 



AN OBLIGING STRANGER. 



selves to you, and whose appearance is often in their favour. 
Such a man, whom I will call " the Colonel/'' which was the 
name he generally went by, was most anxious u to save me all 
trouble/' so after thanking him profusely I commissioned him 
to buy me a good span of mules, and four horses suited to the 
West, the result being as follows : — There were a span of fine- 
looking mules of which one was lame and had been so for 
months, one horse which had been sold because he was a con- 
firmed bolter, another because he ate up his bridle, reins, or 
anything else with which he might be fastened, and a third 
because he was touched in the wind, the fourth was a " race- 
mare/' who could do a mile in some wonderfully short time, 
and of whom more hereafter. 

Fortunately I got my men myself, taking them on the 
recommendation of an old freighter, and very good they both 
were — Ivor going as cook and Ben as driver, the only necessary 
qualification for the former berth being the knowledge of how 
to make a fire and to put on water to boil, all the rest being 
supposed to come. 

It took ten days to get everything together, and about the 
beginning of July we started, our outfit being carried in a light 
waggon, in which we had nearly twenty-five hundredweight, 

much too great a load over such roads. M and I had two 

horses each, riding one and leading the other, and the two men 
travelled on the box of the waggon. 

I must not forget to say that I had on this trip a number of 
patent compendiums, than which nothing could have worked 
better or seemed more convenient in the shops, but all of 
which we gradually threw away, as they became dinted and no 
longer fitted one inside another. 



A HORSE-RACE. 107 

On leaving " St. Joe/' as it is always called, we were 
told that a good place to camp the first night would be at the 
town of Troy, as it was not so far but that we could easily 
send back for anything which had been forgotten, as it was 
only thirteen miles from St. Joe. We kept a good look out as 
we rode along so as not to pass the place, and when we 
arrived at a house and barn, thinking we must have done 
thirteen miles, we asked a man, who was sitting in front of the 
house, where Troy was, on which he laughed and said that we 
could see all there was of it, the place having been planned and 
pegged out but never built, one house, a barn, and the pegs 
representing the town. There used to be many places of this 
kind in the West, represented by grand pictures at agents' 
offices and railway-stations as flourishing towns, and when 
credulous people had bought corner lots, and came to visit their 
property, they found much such a town as Troy. 

The first four or five days of our journey, through a number 
of small settlements, were very uninteresting, the only game 
being a few grouse, and the only incident, my losing ten 
pounds in a cleverly managed horse-race of three hundred 
yards. A settler came into camp one morning on a poor- 
looking horse, and offered to run it against anything we had 
for ten pounds (fifty dollars), the distance to be three hundred 
yards. I took him up and saddled the race-mare, thinking I 
had a " soft thing." The race was to be on the sandy road, 
which here ran along the side of the hill, having a ridge on the 
outside of it, and turning just beyond camp round a sharp 
corner. We started from a point a short distance on our side 
of the corner, my opponent taking the inside, and when he 
came to the turn, he crowded me out of the road on to the 



108 A WRESTLING-MATCH. 

ridge, so that my mare nearly came down, and lie won easily. 
Knowing all I do now, I should not have paid the money; 
but I was green then, and did so, and it was a good lesson 
to me. 

We had a piece of bad luck just before reaching the last 
settlement, a place called Lake Sibley. We were going along 
very well, and were thinking of camping for lunch, when the 
mules shied at a dead ox, which was lying on the road-side, 
when the front axle broke and the waggon rolled over. Fortu- 
nately, the mules behaved well and broke nothing ; but we had 
to camp where we were, away from wood and water, and 
unpack the waggon into the tent, the weather being stormy, 
and we made a shelter for ourselves out of the waggon-cover. 
I rode to the settlement the next morning to try and find a 
smith to put on a new axle, but found that one must be sent 
for from St. Joe, involving a delay of a week ; so rather than 
remain where we were, I exchanged the waggon for another, 
giving money into the bargain, though mine was a new one, 
whereas the one I got was several years old. 

During the evening we had a good many visitors to the tent, 
and among others the man of whom I had got the waggon, 
and another man called Brown, who wanted to go with us as 
guide, as he said he knew all the country we wished to hunt 
over and was not afraid of Indians. The waggon man, whose 
name was Belknap, began bragging of his wrestling, telling us 
that he had never been thrown, on which Brown said it was 
quite time that he should be, and challenged him to come out- 
side. Of course we all went out to see the fun, and the two 
men stripped and clinched, when Brown, first making a feint, 
threw Belknap over his shoulder, giving him a bad shaking ; 



MY NEW MAN FOX. 109 

a second struggle ended in the same way, after which Belknap 
said very little. I heard in the course of the evening of 
another man, whom everyone said I ought to have, whose name 
was Fox, and who seemed from all accounts to fear nothing, 
having been out by himself on the Solomon River hunting for 
a lost mule, when no other ten men in the settlement would 
have done it, as the Indians were very bad just then ; so I 
determined to go and see him in the morning, having already 
engaged Brown. I found him digging a well for a new settler, 
at a small place a few miles lower down the Republican River, 
and after a short talk engaged him. Seeing that he was bare- 
footed, I said that he had better go into the settlement and buy 
himself some boots, and that I would advance him the money, 
on which he replied that he had rather not do so, as the sheriff 
wanted him, and would perhaps detain him, as he had killed 
two Germans in a gambling row ; and it came out, too, that if 
our journey led us in the direction of Texas, he could not 
accompany us, as the sheriff of Houston also wanted him, 
though he would not say why. He was evidently a first-class 
desperado, but as our trip was a dangerous one, his pluck more 
than counterbalanced everything else. I tried to get boots for 
him, but the few they had at Sibley were all too small, and he 
had to go barefooted, and make himself moccasins from the 
first buffalo we killed. 

The following day we left Sibley, and two days' travelling 
took us to the north of a creek called " White Rock/' on which 
we expected to remain some time. This place had a curious 
history, having already been settled nine times, each set of 
settlers having remained only a part of a summer, and being 
then scared away by Indians. One lot had just left, and it 



110 WHITE EOCK. 

lowered Brown very much in our estimation when we found 
that he had been one of them. 

I could not discover that a single man, woman, or child had 
been actually killed during the whole nine summers, but one 
man had been wounded this last summer, and the rest of them 
seemed always to have run as soon as they either saw an 
Indian or the track of one. For some miles up the creek we 
came across houses_, in many of which everything heavy, such 
as beds and stoves, had been left ; and we also found a number 
of small corn-fields, just coming into ear, which we determined 
to visit later on. We kept on for about thirty miles until we 
had passed all houses, and then made a comfortable camp, not 
only putting up two tents, but erecting a bough shelter from 
the sun, which we called the " dining-room," and also cutting 
a smoke-house out of the bank of the stream for buffalo- 
tongues, of which we had promised to bring back a supply. 

We had not seen much game so far, and nothing bigger 
than a turkey, but above our camp found it very plentiful, 
including white- and black -tailed deer, any number of turkeys, 
and a good many elk, while by going south we found plenty of 
buffalo. It certainly was a a happy hunting-ground/'' and we 
had it, and were likely to have it, to ourselves, so far as white 
men were concerned. The Indians were our only trouble, and 
as they knew that the creek was deserted, there was not much 
to tempt them to come near us. 

My friend M , having lived all his life in a town, 

knew nothing of riding, though I did not know this till 
afterwards ; and a few days after we reached this camp I pro- 
posed to have a run at buffalo, so we started, I riding the 
bolter, and M the omnivorous animal. The country 



A TENDERFOOT AFTER BUFFALO. Ill 

was rolling prairie, with very often a dry watercourse in the 
hollows, and as these were overgrown with sunflowers, we 
could not see where they began, the sunflowers being higher 
than our heads. 

A ride of about two hours took us to a high ridge, from 
which we had an extensive view, and we could see many small 
bands of buffalo, of from three or four to fifty ; and choosing 
one of these, as they were on good riding ground, we made for 
them, keeping in a hollow which hid us till we were within a 
quarter of a mile of them. We then tightened our girths and 

loaded. I was using a sixteen-bore double gun, and M 

a double rifle of the same calibre, which I had lent him. I 
noticed that he held his reins very awkwardly and had some 
trouble in managing his horse and holding his rifle at the 
same time, but I was too excited to think of anything but the 
run before us, so leaving the hollow, we rode on to the level, 
and were at once seen by the buffaloes, which commenced 
going off. 

Giving a shout and telling M to put the spurs in, away 

I went, leaving him a little behind me, and we were going 
down a steep hill, when I heard strange sounds in my rear, 

and turning round in my saddle, I saw M holding on both 

before and behind, and flying about in an extraordinary way, 
his hat and gun gone, and he evidently being on the point 
of coming to grief himself; and just as I turned my head to 
see what was in front of me and to pull up, I heard a thud, 

followed by a loud groan, and saw M on his back, heels 

in the air. I caught his horse as he passed me, and then rode 

back, finding M unhurt and unable to account for what 

had happened ; the rifle was not broken as I feared it would 



112 A VISITOR. 

be, so lie remounted and we started again, taking a new 
direction, as our buffalo would have alarmed all on that side. 
On going round a point of timber we came on an old bull, 
and immediately gave chase, and after many turns and two 
furious charges, I killed him, having to give him seven bullets 

before he dropped. M came up as I was taking out the 

tongue, and owned that he could not manage a horse and a gun 
at the same time, and that for the future he would content 
himself with stalking. We tried a good deal more ground, 
looking for cows and calves ; but the country was disturbed, 
and we had to go back to camp with one tongue only. 

On reaching camp, we were surprised to find a young fellow 
from Sibley who had come, hoping to sell us a very nice little 
bay mare, but he wanted a hundred and fifty dollars for her, 
and I thought this too much. He asked if he might remain 
a few days and hunt with us, wishing to have a run at buffalo j 
and I of course said yes, as there was plenty of room in the 
men's tent. On the following morning Brown, the stranger, 
and I saddled up for a run, I taking my race-mare, and Brown 

M 's second steed, who made noise enough for a locomotive, 

and we started south, keeping to the east of the ground we 
went over the day before. A solitary bull was soon met with, 
and not knowing whether we should find any more, we got 
ready for a run. I supposed that I was going to have it all to 
myself, as my mare was nearly sixteen hands, while the bay, 
whom her owner called " Polly/ 5 was not more than fourteen ; 
she was, however, made like a race-horse, having a good 
shoulder and good muscle behind. 

We started together and remained so for a short distance, 
when the locomotive dropped behind, and I put on a spurt to 



A WONDERFUL PONY. 113 

leave the mare, who, however, remained at my knee, though I 
was doing my best ; a minute later she passed me easily, going 
over the rough ground like a cat, and the stranger got the first 
shot, and in the end killed the bull, I being simply nowhere, as 
my mare tried to run away on hearing the firing, and being 
very bad when the ground was rough. 

I need not say how disgusted I was, though the mare's 
owner behaved very well and refrained from chaffing me. We 
took the bull's tongue, and Brown having joined us, with his 
horse entirely pumped, we started once more, but found no 
buffaloes till late in the afternoon, when we came on a small 
band of cows and calves, which scattered on our chasing them ; 
and I managed to get one after firing nearly twenty shots, as 
my mare jumped many feet every time I raised my gun, 
so that it was impossible to take any sort of aim. 

On the way to camp I exchanged the race-mare for the 
pony, giving fifty dollars to boot, though she had cost me two 
hundred dollars (£40). This was by far the best animal that 
I ever sat on in America, and though so small she seemed to 
make nothing of my fifteen stone, going over awful ground 
without a stumble, even at full speed, and standing fire like an 
old shooting pony. Although 1 gave a long price for her 
1 did Dot regret it, as she was the means of saving my life 
more than once, as will be seen further on. I owned her for 
three years, and then sold her to a companion on my leaving 
for home. 

The mare's owner left us the next day, and we moved south 
to the Solomon River, the large herd of buffalo being on the 
other side of it, so that it took us nearly half a day to reach 
them from where we had been camped. We established our- 



114 TESTING BROWN'S COURAGE. 

selves on the forks of the Solomon, which was, although we 
did not then know it, a favourite rendezvous of the Sioux, their 
usual camp being not quite two miles from where we then were. 

Brown and I went out a few days after our arrival, and 
as the grass was bad and our horses thin we went on foot. 
After walking some miles, and seeing nothing but some very 
wild antelope, we suddenly noticed what I took at first to be 
smoke among some trees ahead of us, but which I recollected 
soon afterwards was nothing but some dead cottonwood trees 
standing among green ones, as I had remarked the same 
appearance a few days previously and had gone to see what it 
was. I thought this a good opportunity to test Brown's 
courage, about which I had my doubts, as he was always 
boasting of the number of Indians he had killed ; so I pretended 
to think it was smoke, and told Brown that I should go and 
see what it meant, on which he refused to accompany me, and 
started off in the direction of camp, saying that he did not call 
that courage, but fool-hardiness. After walking a short dis- 
tance, however, I turned and overtook him, and had a good 
laugh at him, telling him what it really was, when he assured 
me that he knew it all the time and merely wanted to try me. 

On our return to camp we found that we might very easily 
have come across some Indians, as eight or ten of them had 
during our absence ridden on to the bluffs which overhung the 
camp, and had shaken their spears at those in it. 

We had a consultation that evening, and all the men, with 
the exception of Fox, wished to give up the trip and return 
home ; but as the latter assured me that he would go on with 
me alone if necessary, they were at last shamed into remaining. 



THE OMNIVOKOUS HORSE. 115 



CHAPTER IX. 

Find a Sioux camp-ground.— The omnivorous horse. — A Rocky-Mountain 
moose. — A large turkey-roost. — A deserted settlement. — Fox thinks he 
is going to die,— Crossing the river under difficulties. — A fast buffalo- 
calf, — Adventure with a buffalo. — Camp deserted. Another made. Row 
with the men. Brown discharged. Remove to old camp. — More buffalo- 
hunting. — Surprised by Indians. Cut off from camp. Plan of getting 
through. Its success and safety. — Neighbourhood getting too warm. — 
Fox declines going near a sheriff. — Return eastwards. 

As we found a great deal of Indian sign about, and came one 
morning on the big Sioux camp-ground, which was so close to 
us and which had evidently been lately occupied, we thought 
it wise to move some miles up the Solomon River, where 
we camped on a small stream which ran into it, and found 
capital grass and a spring of ice-cold water. 

Here the horse whose peculiarity it was to eat his reins gave 

us a specimen of his skill. M , to whom he belonged, had 

been out for a ride, and on coming home had taken off the 
saddle and bridle, and had tied him to the waggon-wheel by 
his picket-rope, meaning to put him out later; but this he 
forgot to do, and there he remained all night. In the morn- 
ing we found he had torn off all he could reach of the waggon- 

i2 



116 A ROCKY-MOUNTAIN MOOSE. 

cover, and had then pulled out a bag containing sixty pounds 
of sugar, of which he had eaten all he could, trampling the 
remainder into the ground — a great loss, as we were so far 
from any place where we could get any more. 

A day or two after this, M — — , Fox, and I were out after 
buffalo, when we came across a fine badger, which, finding he 
could not get away, flattened himself out on the prairie, 
thinking, I suppose, that we should not then see him, and 
sank so low that he did not seem to be more than two inches 

thick. M , who had never seen one, asked what it was, 

on which we told him that it was a " Rocky-Mountain moose," 
and as such it was described in his journal and in his letters 
home. 

Hearing from Brown that there was a good-sized settlement, 
where we could probably buy sugar, about sixty miles down 
the river, Fox and I determined to go there, making a circuit 
to avoid the Sioux camp. We calculated on doing it in three 
days, and took our best horses and weapons, as it was very 
likely we might be chased by Indians. The first day we 
camped a few miles below the forks of the river, seeing no 
fresh Indian sign, and we killed two turkeys from a roost 
close to where we camped. There were at least two hundred 
in it, and only a few of the nearest flew away when we fired, 
so that we could easily have killed many more. We had 
gathered a number of mushrooms during the ride, and with 
these and broiled turkey we had a splendid supper. 

On the following day we reached the settlement, which lay 
on the opposite bank of the river, and found it deserted. 
There were some twenty houses, and they seemed to have been 
left very suddenly, as many small things were lying about 



OUR MEN ARE AGUE STRICKEN. 117 

round the doors, which, in most cases were open. We went 
into some of the houses, finding, as on White Rock, that 
everything heavy had been left behind ; and in one— a very 
small house, of one room only — we were surprised to see short 
red hair lying about all over the floor, the explanation of which 
we heard some months later. It appears that a few days before 
our arrival there had been an Indian scare, and all the settlers 
had run away, the man who lived in this house first cutting 
off his hair close to his head to avoid being scalped should the 
Indians get him. On our way back, Fox had an attack of 
ague, and, plucky man as he was in other ways, he entirely 
broke down under it, and we had to camp where we were, 
almost without provisions, as we had shot nothing that day. 
For some hours he thought he was dying, and he would pray 
one minute and use the most awful language the next. In 
the morning he was well again, and we reached camp that 

evening, only to find M and all the men down with the 

same complaint, the camp being on very low ground. We 
therefore determined to move, crossing the river so as to be 
nearer the buffalo. The banks were high at this point, the 
one on the opposite side being about eighty feet from the 
water to where we could rest the mules, and that eighty must 
be done with a rush. 

The proper way would have been to empty the waggon 
and to have carried the contents over ; but everyone was so 
miserable that we determined to chance it, as the mules, having 
done nothing lately, were fresh and in good order. Going 
down was comparatively easy, as we tied the wheels, Fox and 
I managing the waggon, the others lying in it, as they felt too 
weak to help. The water was shallow, but the bottom was 



118 SHIFT OUR CAMP. 

muddy, and we had a struggle to reach the opposite side : how- 
ever, we sent the mules at the bank and got up halfway, when 
they stopped and the waggon began to come back. Now we 
were on a slope which was at an angle of 45°, and going back 
meant a total smash and a very bad time for those inside ; so, 
shouting to them to get out and help us, Fox and I each seized 
a wheel, and held on as I think I never held on to anything 
in my life, so much depending on it. The others recovered 
with marvellous rapidity from their illness, and to see them 
jumping about you would never have believed that there was 
anything the matter with them. The mules were staunch and 
tried again, and this time we reached the resting-place, from 
which the slope was more gradual. We camped about three 
miles further up the river, in a small bend of it — a capital 
place if we were attacked, as the water was deep all round the 
bend. The only timber was near the tent, and the men made 
quite a little settlement, putting up a large dining-room, 
covered with a spare tent-fly, and making benches and a table : 
we had also a smoke-stage, hitching-bar for the horses, and 
the two tents. 

Here the buffalo were all round us, and a large band crossed 
the river just above the camp on the evening of our arrival ; so 

M and I crept up under the bank, so that fully a hundred 

must have passed within three yards and never scented us, the 
wind being from them to us. It was great fun to watch some 
of the young ones, who hesitated about going down the steep 
bank, being butted down by the old fellows. One of these, by 
the way, missed his blow, and nearly came on the top of us. 

I had a run on the following day after the fastest calf I ever 
chased. I was mounted on my bolter, and though I ran the 



ANT-FIGHTING. 119 

horse to a standstill, I had to give it up, so I returned to camp 
and changed the saddle to the mare, and again went after the 
calf; and in five minutes it was dead, the mare going up to it 
at once. 

Meat being plentiful, we gave up hunting for a day or two, 
and let the men go out and kill some old bulls, their tongues 

being as good as any others ; so M and 1 remained in 

camp mending our clothes, cleaning our guns, &c, and making 
experiments in cookery, though we were very seldom able to 
eat what we had cooked. 

One evening we heard turkeys flying up to roost, and on 
going to the spot after dark found the trees full of them, and 
we brought back five fine ones. This is a very tame way of 
getting them, however, as they are shot sitting, and you cannot 
well miss, using a shot gun and no. 6 shot, which, by the way, 
is much more deadly than a larger size, if you fire at the head 
and neck. A better way was to run them into the bushes on 
horseback when you found them out feeding, and by following 
them at once, they would rise all round you and give you 
some very pretty shots. 

One of our amusements in camp was to find a red-ants' nest, 
and then one of the white ant, and to lay a train of sugar or 
syrup from one to the other, and lie down about halfway 
between the two and watch the result. Before long you would 
see a mass of them coming from both sides, and when they 
met the fun began. They would first form up into a solid 
body on each side, and seem to hold a palaver, after which 
they would separate and, rushing across the intervening space, 
would seize an adversary ; they would throw him on their backs, 
and carry him off to the ant-hill, where, of course, he was 



120 ADVENTURE WITH A BUFFALO. 

stowed away for food. It was wonderful to see with what ease 
they could carry an ant as big as themselves, and in half an 
hour the destruction must have been awful. They drew off 
after a time, most of them being away already with captives, 
and we felt we were even with them for all the sugar they had 
carried off from us, the only thing which would keep them out 
of the tent being a line of coal-oil. 

A few days later M and I had an amusing adventure 

with a buffalo, which we had wounded and were following 
through a country intersected by a number of small streams, 
when we came to one of these with a very steep bank, about 
fifteen feet high, and at the bottom of this the buffalo — an old 
bull — was waiting for us. He came up with a rush, very 
nearly catching us, as we had not been expecting him. We 
both fired, and bolted in opposite directions, and he took after 

M , who, instead of going down the bank into the timber 

in the bottom, ran along it, and had a very close shave for it, 
just doubling in time. On seeing him disappear, the bull 
stopped for a moment, giving me time to get in a shot, which 
struck him well forward ; on which he slowly descended the 

bank, close to where M had gone, and walking into the 

stream lay down and rolled over. 

Thinking that he was dead, we both went up to him, leaving 
our rifles against a tree a few yards away, and before taking 
out the tongue we sat down on his body and began to discuss 
the affair, when the buffalo gave a violent heave, nearly throw- 
ing us off, and then tried to get up, causing us to go up the 
bank faster than we had come down, forgetting our rifles in our 
hurry. It was, however, a last effort, and he was soon dead. 
It is astonishing how much lead a buffalo can carry away if 



DISCHARGE BROWN. 121 

not hit in the right place. I remember on one occasion putting 
sixteen no. 12 balls from a shot gun into one, and then having 
to wait a long time for him to die, as my ammunition was 
exhausted. 

I had been out one day with Fox after antelope, and had had 
good sport, having killed three, when on returning to camp we 
found it deserted, everything having disappeared. It was too 
late to hunt for it that night, as it was very dark ; so having 
nothing but simple saddle-blankets by way of bedding, we 
made a large fire, and sat by it nearly all night, and started 
on the waggon-trail very early in the morning, and found our 
camp pitched on a hill, about four miles away, the top of which 
was fortified with boxes and sacks of flour, &c. 

On inquiring what it meant, the men told us that a large 
band of Indians had passed by the day before, going along a 
ridge not more than a mile from camp, fortunately without 
seeing it, and that, as the band came from the direction in 
which we had gone in the morning, they gave us np as lost, 
and packed up everything, moving to where we found them, 
and meaning, if we did not return early in the morning, to go 
back to the settlement. There was a stormy scene, which 
ended in my discharging Brown, of whom everyone was heartily 
tired, giving him the broken- winded horse to ride into Sibley, 
where he was to leave him for us. He was always talking of 
what he would do when there was no danger, and did nothing 
but counsel flight when it came. We returned to our last 
camp as soon as Brown was gone, and the following morning 
the buffalo were close to us, a small band coming almost up to 
the tent. They were not more than thirty yards from it, when 
one of us happened to go out, which frightened them. 



122 SURPRISED BY INDIANS I 

Fox and I had some very exciting gallops after them, getting 
into the middle of a big herd, and having them so close all 
round us that sometimes we could have touched them with our 
hands. A false step on the part of one's horse, and our buffalo- 
hunting would have been at an end, as we should have been 
trampled to death by those behind ; the only drawback was 
the dust, which hid everything outside the radius of a few 
yards. 

I had gone out by myself one morning on the mare, and had 
ridden about five miles due south, when I saw two white-tailed 
deer feeding on the other side of some timber, on the edge of a 
small stream. They were about two hundred yards out on the 
prairie — much further from cover than they are usually seen. 
I tied up the mare on the near side of the timber, loosened 
the girths, and taking off: the bit hung it on the saddle, leaving 
the head-stall on, and fastening the saddle-rope to a bush. I 
then crawled out towards a small rise, from which I could see 
the deer, and on reaching it raised my head, and as I did so I 
saw two Indians raise theirs. I jumped up at once, and ran 
to where I had left the mare, making capital time, slung my 
rifle on my back as I ran, and drew my knife, with which I cut 
the rope, jumped on the loose saddle, and, guiding the mare 
with my hands, galloped out of the timber and on to a ridge. 

Here I looked round and saw that the Indians were not 
coming, but that they had gone some way down the timber to 
where their horses were, and were now mounting. I got off, 
put on the bit, fastened my girths, and remounting, galloped 
off the prairie as I thought for camp, wondering very much 
that I was not pursued ; but on reaching a high point the 
apparent mystery was explained — as I was going straight away 



NARROW ESCAPE. 123 

from camp, and the Indians knew it, as was proved by their 
derisive shouts as I turned and came back. I saw now that I 
was in a fix, the Indians, to the number of seventeen, having 
spread out in a line between me and camp. I knew of no 
place for which I could make on this side ; but how I was to 
get through them was the question. 

So far as I could see with a glass, they had no big horses, 
and I did not think that any Indian pony could catch Polly ; 
still five miles was a long gallop, and the ponies would be 
driven by every means known to Indian cruelty, so that I was 
far from safe, even if I did get through the line, 

At last I thought of a plan, and proceeded to put it into 
execution. I rode along the line of Indians at a hand gallop, 
they keeping parallel with me, gradually increasing the pace 
till I had dropped the slow ponies, and had about eight of the 
fastest opposite to me, and this I kept up for about two miles, 
by which time there was a gap of quite three hundred yards 
between the first lot of Indians and the second. I had been 
edging in gradually, and was now not more than a hundred 
yards from them, when I suddenly turned, and keeping the 
butt of my gun going against the mare's ribs, I rode through 
the gap, lying as flat as I could on my horse. I passed within 
sixty or seventy yards of those behind ; but though they fired, 
it was while galloping over rough ground, and no aim could 
be taken, so that neither I nor the mare was hit, and I was 
soon out of shot and gaining fast, and it now all depended on 
whether the mare could hold out. She had done two miles 
before I got through the line, making it a long gallop ; so I 
eased her a little up the hills, which fortunately were not very 
steep, and the only place where the Indians gained on me was 



124 OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD GETS TOO WARM. 

at two old watercourses, at which I had to hunt for a crossing, 
whereas they crossed wherever they came to them. On mount- 
ing the ridge above camp I emptied my revolver rapidly — a 
signal we had agreed upon — and three of the men ran out to 
meet me and fired at my pursuers, who turned and rode off, 
making insulting gestures at us. 

It had been a very close thing ■ for although the mare held 
out nobly, she was nearly done when I jumped off and loosened 
the girths. 

The Indians had no doubt calculated on capturing me alive, 
or they would have used their rifles when I first saw them, and 
had I been mounted on any other horse in camp, they would 
most likely have succeeded. As this was only my second trip 
on the plains, I may be excused for having made the mistake I 
did in galloping away from camp thinking I was going towards 
it • the whole thing, too, was so sudden that there had been no 
time to think. 

As this neighbourhood was getting too warm for us, we 
hitched up at once, crossed the river, and, carrying water with 
us, camped on a high ridge, cutting grass for the animals, all 

of which we tied to the waggon ; M J s rein-eater being 

fastened with a trace-chain to the end of the pole. 

The Indians could only have been a small party, as we saw 
nothing more of them ; and on the second evening we reached 
our old camp on White Rock. 

Fortunately the buffalo had come north again and there 
were thousands on the creek, making it easy to supply camp, 
as we dare not now hunt at any distance from it, and always 
went in couples, as in those days very few Indians had rifles, 
and two men could keep off a number of them. This being 



EETURN TO ST. JOE. 125 

obliged to remain in or near camp was very slow work, and we 
made np our minds to return to St. Joe, being confirmed in 
our intention by the arrival of two Pawuee scouts from Fort 
Kearney, who reported that the country was full of small bands 
of Sioux. They had been travelling at night, and during the 
previous one had passed several camp-fires. 

Fox left us at Sibley, not caring to go any nearer to the 
sheriff; and our only incident on the return journey was my 
winning my fifty dollars back, with twenty-five added to them, 
from the man who had cheated me going out. Our animals 
were so thin that he was deceived, and my mare won very 
easily. 

On reaching St. Joe I went east with M , giving up my 

intention of wintering in the mountains, and I sold off the 
outfit except Polly, whom I left to be taken care of for me 
till the spring. 



126 ANOTHER EXPEDITION TO WHITE ROCK. 



CHAPTER X. 

Another expedition to White Kock. — A fighting butcher. — The fate of 
Fox. — Excitement about Indians. — Advised to turn back. — Settlement 
No. 10 at White Rock. — Bold settlers. — Examine buffaloes at close 
quarters. — The bold settlers demoralized. — A large herd of elk. — 
Desperate struggle with a horse. Laid up from a kick. — The fate 
of our buffalo-tongues. — Settlers about to avenge themselves. Their 
indifferent armament. A serious consultation. The expedition given 
up. — I intend going alone to Fort Kearney. 

I returned to St. Joe in the spring to meet a friend from 

England, whom I will call F , and we arranged to make 

another expedition to the White Rock country, going further 
west than we had done the year before. We determined to 
buy everything ourselves this time,, and to have no more roarers 
or bridle-eaters ; so we let it be known that we wanted horses, 
and they soon poured in, and we selected from them three very 
fast ones, whose names were " Jeff/' " Rob," and " Bally," 
also a very good white pony and a pair of horses for the 
waggon. We secured Ivor, my cook of last year, and were 
some time in getting a second man. At last, however, we 
heard of a butcher called Douglass, who had fought seven others 
in the market, and had strewn them all over the place ; so we 



WE BUY A BULLDOG. 127 

thought he would be just the man to suit us if we came across 
any Indians, and getting him out of jail, we engaged him. 

Shortly before starting, we had bought a half-bred bull- 
dog, taking a fancy to him in the market ; but after having him 
a day or two he was stolen, or else strayed away, and we offered 
a reward of ten dollars for him, and a man brought him back 
the day we started, declaring, of course, that he had found him 
one day in his yard. After crossing the Missouri, we drove 
through a struggling suburb of St. Joe, and were passing a 
whiskey-saloon, when one of a number of rough men standing 
in front of it claimed our dog, saying that he had found him a 
few days before, and that he had been stolen from him that 
morning. We told him we had paid one reward for him and 
should pay no more, on which the man advanced to take the 
dog, his companions seeming to be inclined to back him up, 
when Douglass got off the box of the waggon, and asked them 
if they had heard of a disturbance there had been in the market 
a few days before. They replied that a big butcher had, they 
had heard, scattered a good many of his companions, on which 
Douglass told them that he was the man referred to, and that 
he was ready to do the same thing again if necessary, on which 
they cooled down again wonderfully, saying that they only 
wanted what was right, so we drove on. 

We camped again at Troy, which had not grown a bit since 
my last visit, and reached Lake Sibley without anything 
happening worth mentioning. Here I inquired for Fox, on 
which the man to whom I spoke took me a short distance, 
and pointing to a mound under a tree, told me that Fox lay 
under it. It seemed that after I left, Fox and Belknap (the 
man from whom I had bought a waggon) had started together 



128 FATE OF FOX. 

on a hunt, taking with them, among other things, a lot of sham 
jewellery, which I had brought out for the Indians, and not 
wanting it, had given to Fox, and that about a week afterwards 
Belknap had come back, riding one of the two small mules 
which they had driven in their waggon, and said that they had 
been attacked by Indians and that Fox had been killed, and 
that he himself had escaped by cutting a mule out of harness 
and riding off. 

As this story was highly improbable, a party started for the 
place where Belknap said that the waggon was, to inquire into 
the matter and get at the facts, and on arriving there they 
found Fox lying in the bottom of the waggon, with his head on 
his arm, as if asleep — the ball which had killed him having 
entered under the arm and passed upwards, so that he must 
have been shot while asleep. His money was gone, but the 
waggon was not plundered, and all the sham jewellery was 
left, which was the first thing Indians would have taken. 
The party returned at once to Sibley to hang Belknap, but 
found him gone, and he had not been heard of since. There 
was a good deal of excitement in the settlement about Indians, 
a woman having been killed at a house on its outskirts, and 
two men had been shot at when herding horses about a mile 
away, and the horses had been driven off. 

We were advised to turn back, but we had got away safely 
the year before, and we believed we should this time, so we 
determined to go on. On coming in sight of the mouth of the 

White Bock, F and I, who were riding ahead, saw a 

number of tents there, and of course our first idea was, 
Indians; but on using a glass we made them out to be white 
men, so we rode on and were soon in the camp, and it turned 



FRESH SETTLERS AT WHITE ROCK. 129 

out to be a tenth lot of settlers, who had come to reoccupy the 
houses on the creek. We camped near them, and had a long 
talk with them that night, giving them our experience of the 
place, and saying that we hoped they meant to remain longer 
than their predecessors. On this they were very indignant, 
asking us if they looked like the sort of men who would run 
away ; and they certainly did not, if that went for anything, 
which, however, was not our experience. They were putting 
up a large block-house on the Republican River, just opposite 
to the mouth of the creek, to which they said they should 
retreat if hard pressed, not with any idea of running away after- 
wards, but to make a good stand and give the Indians a lesson. 
They also said that they hoped we would fall back on them 
if attacked. We bought some milk and eggs from them and 
crossed the river, promising to let them know if we found 
Indians up the creek. There were about thirty men in the 
party, beside women and children, and they looked as if they 
ought to give a pretty good account of a hundred Indians ; but 
in this case appearances proved to be deceptive. 

We found the houses on the creek much as we had left them 
the previous year, excepting that the buffalo had broken down 
many of the fences to get at the corn, which they must have 
enjoyed immensely. Game seemed to be more plentiful than 
ever, buffalo being everywhere, and we saw plenty of fresh sign 
of elk and deer. 

I did not go in so much for running buffalo, as I had killed 

so many in that way, but F , who was new to it, had some 

capital runs. The new horses were a decided failure, for 
having been trained to run short distances, three and four 
hundred yards, at top speed, we could not break them of it ; so 



130 THE SETTLERS DEMORALIZED. 

that you went up very rapidly at first, and just as you were 
getting near the buffalo, up would go their tails and they 
stopped, urging them after that meaning the breaking of a 
blood-vessel and bleeding at the nose. I crept up a ravine one 
day, at the head of which three old bulls lay asleep, and 
watched them for some time, lying not more than nine feet 
from the nearest, every now and then throwing a small piece 
of mud at his nose, making him bellow with rage, thinking, I 
suppose, it was the flies that worried him. After I had 
examined them sufficiently, I jumped up and gave a yell, on 
which they sprang to their feet, tumbling over each other in 
their haste, and made off. 

One night we were awoke by an unearthly scream, coming 
from the other side of the creek, and on going in the morning 
to see what it had been made by, we found it was a puma, 
which had scented us, and expressed in this way his displeasure 
at finding us in his hunting-grounds. 

After about three weeks on White Eock, F and I 

determined to go into Sibley to get some butter, eggs, &c, 
taking a straight cut across country, as being nearer than 
going by the mouth of the creek. We remained one day, 
finding some letters for us, so we stopped to answer them, and 
then returned to camp by our old road, and on reaching the 
block-house we found the whole party living in it and in a 
great state of excitement. The Indians had paid them a 
visit within a few days of our leaving them, just as they were 
getting ready to go up the creek, and had speared a man 
within a hundred yards of the block-house ; and although there 
were more than a dozen men in it at the time, there had not 
been a single shot fired at the Indians to try and save him, 
though there were only seven of them. 



A LAEGE BAND OE ELK. 131 

I am afraid we spoke our minds very freely as to what we 
thought of them, and we cannot be said to have parted friends. 
A few shots would have been quite enough to have saved the 
poor fellow,, and there was not the slightest fear of the block- 
house being attacked. 

On arriving in camp we found all well, and no Indian had 
been seen, though the men had done a great deal of hunting. 
A few days after our return, F — ■—*• came across a band of 
about five hundred elk. He was riding along and had seen no 
sign of game, when there was a noise as if several companies of 
cavalry were dashing out of a ravine to his right, and this 
enormous band of elk appeared on the opposite side, and the 
bulls tossing their great heads in the air, stood for a moment 

to see what had disturbed them. F had time for one long 

shot, and dropped a fine bull, which was in such good order 
that he had more than three inches of fat on the brisket, and 
kept us in lard for some weeks. 

One of the horses I had bought at St. Joe was so much 
given to running away, that he could not be safely ridden at 
any pace but a walk when in a town ; but this he had given up 
on finding that every time he tried to bolt he was whipped 
instead of being stopped, so that it did not pay, there being 
practically no end to the galloping ground. He was a very 
handsome animal and had wonderful bottom, but never having 
been fired off he was very hard to manage when running 
buffalo. He would spring on one side when I fired and would 
bolt, and the buffalo would be out of sight by the time I had 
stopped him and turned him in the right direction. I had, 
however, got him much quieter, and one day had killed a cow 
and tied most of the meat on his back. It was the first time I 

k2 



132 STRUGGLE WITH A HORSE. 

had made him carry it home, as I had generally sent some one 
for it, but this time I thought I would try it, and apparently 
he did not object. I was standing in front of him, putting on 
my coat, when he turned his head round and smelt the meat, 
seeming to take in for the first time what it was, and then 
began as desperate a struggle as I ever had with a horse. He 
kicked and reared and jumped. I was holding on to the bit, 
and was often taken off my feet, the meat flying about and 
hitting him and driving him nearly mad. I knew that if I let 
him go he would join the first herd of buffalo he met with, and 
I should probably never see him again; so I hung on, skinning 
my hands and being pounded by his knees till, thank goodness, 
the buckskin strap gave way, and the meat fell, and I managed 
to lead him back to where the buffalo lay. Here I secured 
him to the cow's head and blindfolded him with my coat ; I 
tied on some more meat, mounted and got ready before I 
removed the coat for the second act of the performance. He 
saw the meat at once, and started across the prairie, jumping 
and bucking. I managed to turn him in the direction of 
camp, which was about three miles off, past which we flew, 
nearly stampeding the picketed horses, and making the men 
think I was pursued by Indians. I described a circle on the 
prairie and returned to camp, the horse being now as quiet as 
a lamb, and by tying him up near where the meat hung, and 
making him constantly carry a little, I soon got him quite used 
to it — the only trouble with him being that he would some- 
times kick as you passed behind him with the lash-ropes, once 
hitting me on the thigh and bolting ; and if it had not been for 
the cook's passing near me, returning from a hunt, I should 
have starved, as my leg swelled up so much that I had to cut 



FATE OF OUR BUFFALO-TONGUES. 133 

my trowsers open, and I was six miles from camp and unable 
to move. 

I do not think I was ever in a more perfect hunting-ground 
than this was in those days — the danger from Indians giving it 
that dash of excitement which is always needed to make any 
life really perfect. 

Our cook had improved very much under F 's tuition, 

the following being a common bill of fare : — Soup, curry of 
turkey-breast, antelope steaks, rice-pudding with syrup, and 
good strong coffee — not a bad bill of fare when seasoned with 
hunger sauce. 

We had a number of buffalo-tongues salted and smoked, but 
these were for our friends at home, and were taken every care 
of, to be eaten eventually by the servants at an hotel in 
St. Joe, where I left them for some months forgetting all 
about them ; and when I wrote directing them to be forwarded, 
I was informed that the rats had eaten them all, which, as they 
were fastened up in a barrel, was impossible. 

One. day, after I had recovered from my kick, we were 
startled just as we were going to dinner by seeing a consider- 
able number of men coming up the valley, who at first we 
supposed to be Indians, as they were several miles distant, and 
some of those who were riding in front had yellow bandana 
handkerchiefs round their heads, and wore old blue soldier 
overcoats, a dress much affected by the Sioux. A glass showed, 
however, that they were white men, and they proved to be 
sixteen of the men whom we had left at the mouth of the 
creek. We asked them what was the matter, on which they 
told us that they had fully expected to find us all killed, as the 
Indians had again visited Lake Sibley and had carried off a 



] 34 SETTLERS THIRST EOR VENGEANCE '. 

woman and a child, and had fired into several of the houses. 
They were now, they said, on their way to the Sioux camp, to 
demand the surrender of the woman and child, or to take 
them by force, if necessary. They spoke so confidently, that 
we really believed they meant business this time, and told 
them that if they would stay to dinner, three of us would join 
them, and could guide them to the Indian camp, as it was 
most likely the large one we had found the previous year at 
the forks of the Solomon River, to which the Sioux came every 
year. They agreed to this and picketed their horses. Dinner 
for nineteen people was a serious affair, but we managed it at 
last, cutting up almost the whole of a small deer to make a 
stew, as their appetite was enormous. When dinner was over, 
we thought that perhaps it might be as well to ascertain what 
amount of ammunition the party had brought with them. 
They were armed with a most miscellaneous collection of fire- 
arms, no two being alike ; some had long muzzle-loading 
Kentucky rifles, others old Tower muskets, and a few had 
muzzle-loading shot guns, not exactly the weapons to face 
Indians with. When we inquired as to ammunition, a lament- 
able state of things was disclosed, many having no more than 
the loads which were in their guns, and very few had more 
than six rounds. We offered, however, to make up deficiencies 
and lend rifles to those who had shot guns, as we happened to 
have a good number of the former in camp. 

The men asked for time to talk the matter over, and went 
aside for that purpose, returning to us in a few minutes, 
to say that it would after all be very foolish to go any further, 
as they were only a small party, and knew nothing about the 
number of the Indians. The fact was that the Lake Sibley 



THEIR COURAGE EVAPORATES. 135 

people had succeeded in exciting them for a time, by an 
account of the outrage, but that their courage had now all 
oozed away at their finger ends. Nothing we could say was of 
any use, and they ended by mounting and returning the way 
they had come. 

My horse " Jeff " was by this time so thin, being nnused to 
doing without corn, that I determined to start the next 
morning, and to take him to a ranche which we knew of, about 
ninety miles north-west of our present camp, and about thirty 
miles from Fort Kearney, to which place we had directed 
letters to be sent, so that I could kill two birds with one stone. 
I meant to leave the horse at this ranche till the end of our 
hunt, when I could fetch him, buying a pony at Kearney to 
replace him and to ride back on. The ranche was owned by 
an Englishman, whose name was Martin, who we knew would 

feed the horse up and keep him till I came for him. F 

and the men were to remain in the present camp, unless game 
became scarce, when they were to leave a paper at a certain 
spot, telling me in which direction they had gone, as I 
expected to be back again in eight days at latest. 



136 STAKT FOR MARTIN'S RANCHE. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Start on my journey. — Miserable weather. — Appearance of three Indians 
I compel them to breakfast with me. An uncomfortable breakfast- 
party. I bid them adieu. — Reach the ranche. — Report of our having 
been murdered. — Mr. Martin. His history. — Visit to Fort Kearney. — 
Interview with Major North. His recent fight with Sioux. — Start on 
my return journey. — Uncanny sight. — Dense fog. — Camp on Little 
Blue River. — Horse missing. Vain , efforts to track him. — Weary 
journey back to ranche. Quite done up. Kindness of the Martins. — 
Return jomney to camp. — A pleasant surprise. — Narrow escape from 
Indians. — A horrible sight. 

I started the next morning with as light a load as possible, 
only taking my blankets and a small waterproof sheet, coffee, 
two days' bread, a tin cup and plate, knife and fork, and 
enough meat for one day, trusting to kill game on the way. 
I carried a repeating rifle holding nine cartridges, a knife and 
small belt axe, and a hundred rounds of ammunition. 

I only knew the first twenty miles of the road, but had 
studied it on a map ; and as the house I was bound for was on 
the great Calif ornian stage road, I could not well miss it, as by 
going north I was bound to strike this road. I calculated on 
doing the ninety miles in two days, camping on a stream called 
the " Little Blue " the first night, when I should have done 
two thirds of my journey. 



ROUGH WEATHER. 137 

It was a fine morning when I left camp, and I had a very 
pleasant ride through a pretty country, chiefly rolling prairie, 
till I reached the Republican River, which I crossed without 
any trouble, jumping a fine elk as I landed on the opposite 
bank; but very soon afterwards it began to rain heavily. 
About midday I halted to dine, making my small fire among 
some bushes, in case of Indians being about. Having rested 
two hours I started again, being by this time wet through. I 
fortunately had brought a compass with me, as I could not see 
more than a few hundred yards ahead; and late in the evening 
I struck the Little Blue River, and camped in as sheltered a 
spot as I could find, putting up my sheet as a tent. 

Indians dislike bad weather quite as much as we do, and on 
such a night as this would be under the shelter of their lodges ; 
then, too, the fog was so thick that a fire could not be seen 
far, so I made up a good one and risked it. 

It was a very rough night, and the rain blew under my 
shelter, making me very wet and miserable, so I was glad to 
get up at daybreak to make a fire. It was still raining, and I 
had very hard work getting it to burn up, and was obliged to 
go down on my knees and blow at it, when, happening to look 
towards the hills on my side of the river, I saw what I took to 
be three buffaloes, but knowing that they were everywhere just 
now, I thought no more of them. 

Having made the fire burn, I got in my horse and saddled 
him, tying him close to my sleeping-place ; I then put on my 
tin cup full of water to boil, and cutting my meat into 
"kabobs/' I peeled a dry stick, and threading them on it, 
sloped them over the fire to roast, this being one of the quickest 
ways of cooking meat. Everything being now in trim, I looked 



138 UNCOMFORTABLE BREAKFAST-PARTY. 

to see what had become of the buffaloes, as it was much lighter 
by this time, when I was very much startled to see that they 
were three Indians,, who had come nearer and were watching 
me. I beckoned to them, making the peace sign, to come 
into my camp, but they replied by pointing over the hill, and 
beckoning me to go with them, and as I shook my head they 
turned and were walking away. 

It was, of course, of the utmost importance to know whether 
they were friendly or not, so I walked out towards them, on 
which they turned and came back towards me. I had my rifle 
in my left hand, and was holding my right in the air, with the 
open palm to the front, the universal peace sign among Indians. 
They answered my signal in the same way, and we met and 
shook hands, when I again pointed to my fire, and intimated 
that I wished them to come and have breakfast with me ; but 
again they refused, and started to leave me. Now, of course, 
this would never do, as they would soon be back again with a 
number of their companions, and if they were Sioux, as I 
strongly suspected from their moccasins, my hair was not 
worth an hour's purchase. I called to them, therefore, and 
made signs, that i£ they would not go with me, I should shoot 
them, taking aim at one of them as I finished my signs. 

The party consisted of an old man, who had a musket with 
the barrel cut short, and tw r o young men, one of whom had a 
bow and arrows, and the other a cavalry sabre ; and thinking I 
meant what I threatened, they slowly followed me to the fire, 
I going backwards, and keeping my rifle ready, till we all 
stood by it. I then sat down on one side of the fire and they 
on the other, and with my rifle in my left hand, I gave them 
the kabobs with my right, and then passed the coffee, first 






ARRIVE AT THE RANCHE. 141 

putting in some sugar, of which all Indians are very fond. 
The only thing which made me feel uncomfortable was the old 
man's musket, the muzzle of which pointed my way, so I told 
the old fellow to lay it down on the grass, but he refused to do 
this, making signs that the grass was wet and would hurt it ; 
so I took aim at him again with my rifle, on which he removed 
his blanket, in spite of the rain, and wrapping the musket in it 
laid it down. We now became quite friendly, so much so, 
that they finished all my coffee before I had had any, and it 
was necessary to get water to make some more, and this 
involved going to the stream, which I managed to do walking 
backwards, still holding my rifle. The Indians made up the 
fire, and we soon had a second brew and some more kabobs, 
which they made better than I did, it being a favourite Indian 
way of cooking meat when on a hunt. 

It was now about time for me to go, and fortunately I had 
already saddled the horse, and had only to make up my small 
pack, put on the bridle, and mount, when they rose, evidently 
expecting me to go with them, and were very much surprised 
and gesticulated violently as I rode off, waving my hand to 
them and feeling rather uncomfortable, till out of gunshot, 
lest they might shoot me in the back. The last thing I saw 
of them as I topped the next ridge was all three running 
in the direction in which I supposed their camp to be, on 
which I put my horse into a hand gallop, and kept him at 
it for more than an hour, so as to get clear of the neighbour- 
hood of the Indians as soon as possible. 

I arrived about three o'clock at Martin's ranche, and noticed 
that they seemed surprised to see me, Martin telling me after- 
wards that a report had been brought into Fort Kearney that 



142 martin's histoky. 

we had all been murdered by the Sioux on the Republican 
River. 

I remained two days at the ranche luxuriating in new bread, 
butter and cream, and a comfortable bed. And here I may as 
well say something of my host, as he was a good specimen of 
what can be done by perseverance and pluck. 

He had come out from England about twenty-five years 
before, having been a groom in a racing- stable, and his love of 
fighting was always getting him into trouble. He had worked 
for wages in the Eastern States till he had saved enough to 
start with on his own account, when he had moved west, and 
had put up a house on the stage line between Nebraska city, 
on the Missouri River, and California. Here he had kept a 
station, where the overland stage changed horses and the 
passengers passed the night. This he had gradually added to, 
and had enclosed fields, till he had a good ranche, which he 
worked with the help of one man and his wife and sons, finding 
a ready sale for all he raised to the freighters who were con- 
tinually passing. The life had been a very hard one at first, 
and they had to be constantly on their guard against Indians, 
who on several occasions ran off: animals and fired into the 
ranche, but had never ventured to attack it. He told me that 
two of his sons, the eldest being only nine, were one evening 
bringing in the cows, both of them riding one horse bare- 
backed, and that when about a mile from the ranche, some 
Sioux, who had no doubt been lying in wait for them, suddenly 
appeared and chased them, yelling as only Indians can. The 
boys, though frightened, stuck to the cattle, and brought them 
in safely, closely followed by the Indians, who were driven off 
by Martin and his eldest son, as they happened to see them 



MAJOR NORTH. 143 

coming; and it was then found that an arrow had passed 
through the hinder boy, and had stuck into the one in front, 
pinning them together. I saw the marks of the wound on one 
of them, the arrow having passed through on the left side of 
the spine and low down. 

When I asked Mrs. Martin if she had not been very much 
frightened, she answered that she had lived too long in the 
West for that, and her husband added that once when some 
Indians, supposed to be friendly, had come into the house and 
had been very insolent, finding only a woman at home, and 
taking whatever they fancied, she had, as he said, gone for 
them with an axe-handle, and had driven them out df the 
house in no time. Martin had, he told me, come out with 
only enough to keep himself and his wife for a few weeks, and 
he owned to being worth thirty thousand pounds, all of it 
being made without speculation or mining. 

I left the ranche on the third day for Fort Kearney, a ride 
of thirty miles, to get letters and a few supplies, and arrived 
the same evening. The Commandant kindly put me up, and 
made me remain the next day, as he wanted me to meet a 
Major North, who was in command of about six hundred 
Pawnee Indian scouts, and who was away at a ranche on the 
Platte River. Major North was an Englishman who had come 
out to America when very young, going eventually into the 
army during the war, and was appointed to the command of 
the scouts about two years before my visit to Kearney. These 
were picked men from the tribe, and, now that they were well 
disciplined, did good service against any hostile Indians, being 
mounted and armed as soldiers. 

Major North came in the following morning, and told me 



144 BATTLE WITH INDIANS. 

that lie had only returned from a scout on the Republican 
River a few days before, and that he had been driven in by the 
Sioux, the following being his account of the affair : — 

It seems that he was out with about a hundred and fifty of 
his men, when he came upon a band of some six hundred 
Sioux under White Cloud, the great Sioux war chief, who 
immediately attacked him and drove him into a ravine, the 
sides of which North lined with two thirds of his men, one 
third of them being detailed to hold the horses. 

The Sioux he said fought well, riding up to the edges of the 
ravine, and firing as calmly as if shootiag game, though they 
were falling fast, the Pawnees being much better armed ; they 
were, however, gradually driven back, having more than a 
hundred killed and wounded, and at last they drew off, when 
North retreated to the Fort as fast as he could go, having lost 
sixteen men and many more being wounded. He told me 
that all White Cloud's men were drilled by that chief and 
always charged like cavalry, using their rifles and revolvers, as 
they had no sabres. 

The fight made it very unlikely that the Sioux would remain 
in the same neighbourhood, as after a loss of this magnitude 
they generally return for a time to their villages to mourn for 
the dead, so that I should only run the risk of meeting small 
parties, and I was willing to take my chance with them. 
Bidding my friends adieu, I rode back to Martin's and 
remained there one day, trying to get a pony ; but he had 
none to spare, and I had not been able to get one at the Post ; 
so as my horse was already much improved by unlimited grain, 
I determined to take him back again, carrying a bushel of corn 
behind the saddle. 



DENSE EOG. 145 

Mrs. Martin put me up all kinds of good things for my 
journey, such, as cold chickens, bread and butter, and hard- 
boiled eggSj and I left the ranche on the 3rd of July, with a 
thick fog all round, which made it a poor sort of day for one 
to find the way over a wild country ; but I had been away so 
long that I feared my companions would come to look for me, 
when we might very easily miss one another. I knew the 
direction which I had to keep, and rode on for some hours, the 
fog getting thicker every minute, and on reaching a small 
stream about midday, I camped for dinner, and remained for 
two hours, when I started again. I intended camping that 
night on the Little Blue River, but could not find it, so I 
rode far into the night, when I saw something which at first 
startled me very much. 

I was in a totally uninhabited part of the country, and yet 
there above me was a house with a bright light shining from 
several windows, and it was not until I got nearer that I made 
it out to be a deserted house, which had lost its roof, and the 
moon was shining through where the windows had been, only 
showing for a few moments through a rift in a cloud, and then 
all was dark again. 

This place I thought would do to camp in for the night, so I 
rode up the hill on which it stood, disturbing an old buffalo 
bull which was lying asleep near it, and which looked enormous 
in that light and against the sky line. I found that nearly all 
the roof was gone, and all the doors and windows, but there 
was enough left to shelter me from the heavy dew, which was 
almost like rain, and I ripped off some remains of flooring for 
a fire, and having made the room look quite cheerful with a 
bright blaze, I off-saddled and brought in everything, picketing 



146 LOSE MY HORSE. 

c ' Jeff v where I had found the buffalo, as it was most probably 
the best grass. There was, of course, a good chance of my fire 
being seen, as the house stood in such a conspicuous place, but 
the fog was thick, and it was too great a temptation to resist, 
so I ate a good supper and turned in, and nothing happened 
during the night. 

The morning was anything but a promising one, the fog 
having turned to rain, and I did not start till after dinner, by 
which time it had cleared up. On consulting my compass, I 
came to the conclusion that I had kept too much to the east, 
as T found that the house I was in had been formerly a stage 
station; so I now turned south-west, and towards evening 
struck the Little Blue River, and cammed in the midst of 
a thick clump of trees close to the stream, and tied my horse's 
picket-rope to a large bush where the feed was very good. It 
came on to rain again in the night, and in the morning there 
was another dense fog, so being wet and cold, I got up early 
and went to bring in ' ' Jeff '■ and water him, but both he and 
the bush to which I had tied him were gone. I could track 
him for some distance, as he seemed to have gone back the 
way we had come on the previous day; and thinking he would 
not have gone far on such a night, I followed him at once, not 
stopping to eat breakfast. The trail became very indistinct as 
I came to a hard ridge, and I soon lost it altogether ; but as I 
thought it most likely that he had gone back to the ranche, I 
kept on in that direction. It was still pouring, and the 
mosquitoes were simply awful, rising out of every small hollow 
in clouds, and it was impossible to keep them off. 

I now began to feel the want of my breakfast, but I buckled 
my belt tighter, and tried not to think of the cold chicken 



A WEARY WALK. 147 

which I had left behind me, walking faster so as to get back to 
the ranche that evening if possible, having thirty-five miles to 
do, if T went straight, and this I was not likely to do in such 
weather. I halted for a few minutes now and then, sitting down 
on the ground, where there was now more water than grass. 

Night came and found me still tramping on, though very 
tired, the going being very slippery, especially as I was wearing 
moccasins, and about ten o'clock I lay down and went to 
sleep, with my hat over my eyes, and slept nearly all night in 
spite of rain and mosquitoes. I was so stiff in the morning 
that I could hardly get up, and had to rub my legs for some 
time before I could start again. About noon I reached the 
stage road, and the question now, and a very important one, 
was, had I struck the road above or below Martin's ? If the 
former I was all right, as the Fort was on one side of me and 
the ranche on the other ; but if the latter and I took the wrong 
direction, there was nothing between me and Lincoln city, a 
distance of about eighty miles, which probably meant death. 
I therefore determined to leave it to chance, tossing up a coin, 
and deciding that it should be " heads up" and " tails down/'' 
It came heads, so I turned up, and struggled along till about 
nine at night, when I saw lights ahead, which proved to be the 
ranche. Here I was so done that I could not mount the three 
small steps to the door, and fell against them. The rattle 
made by my rifle brought them all out, when a few words 
explained the state of affairs, and I was carried upstairs and 
put to bed. Mrs. Martin made me some soup and fed me, as I 
was so stiff that I could not do it myself. I slept sixteen 
hours, and on waking could not turn myself in bed, everything 
having to be done for me, and nothing could exceed the kind- 
le 



148 A PLEASANT SURPRISE. 

ness of the whole Martin family. They made me all kinds of 
good things, and came and sat with me nearly all day ; it was 
only on the fourth day that I could walk down stairs, and then 
with difficulty. 

Having now been away from camp so long, I insisted on 
starting, and Miss Martin kindly lent me her favourite pon 
whose name was " Libb," and I promised to bring her back 
before leaving for St. Joe, so about noon I left the ranche, the 
little pony carrying me capitally, though she was somewhat 
lazy. I reached the Little Blue River that night, passing a 
fresh Indian camp, the marrow-bones which lay about all over 
the camp being still moist. 

As I happened to recognize this part of the stream, and 
knew that I was not far from where I had left my saddle and 
pack, I rode down till I reached it, when what should I see 
standing within a hundred yards of where I had slept, bat the 
horse I had lost, with the rope still round his neck, and. a 
portion of the bush to which I had tied him at the end of it. 
He had evidently been unable to find his way back to the 
ranche, so he had returned to where he had been tied, and had 
remained about there for the last seven days. At first I 
thought that the Indians must have caught him, and that they 
were somewhere near ; but when I saw that he was loose, I 
knew that this could not be the case. He was as glad to see 
me as I was him, and galloped round the pony several times, 
very nearly throwing us down with his rope. I camped on the 
old spot, and in the morning started at a good pace, riding 
Jen and putting my small pack on the pony, Jeff being 
so much more comfortable to ride, as my feet almost touched 
the ground when on Libb. 



p 




A HORRIBLE SIGHT. 151 

I had my dinner in the deep bed of a stream, feeding the 
horses with corn ; and it was lucky that I did so, for on going 
up to look round before starting, I saw a band of Indians, 
evidently running buffalo, about two miles ahead of me. I 
lay down and watched them for about two hours, by which 
time they had all crossed a high divide on my left, when I 
started again, taking care to reconnoitre before crossing any 
high ground, tying the pony and Jeff together while I did 
so, when they would remain patiently till I returned. 

I saw nothing more of the Indians, and struck the Republican 
River about six o'clock in the evening, and was surprised at 
sef3ing a waggon on the bank among some bushes. On reach- 
ing it I found it had been plundered, while round it lay the 
bodies of five men and four horses, all of the former being 
scalped, and one who lay under the hind end of the waggon 
had had the top of his head chopped off down to the eyes. 
There were no signs as to who they were, but a small note-book 
which I found in the pocket of the man under the waggon, in 
which was written " J. Ralston/' and the book contained 
accounts. It was time to camp, but I could not do so there, 
so I crossed the river and camped about . a mile from the 
waggon, dreaming during the night of the horrible sight, and 
jumping up several times, thinking I was attacked by Indians. 
The men looked as if they had been dead about a fortnight, 
and as they were partially eaten by wolves, they were not 
pleasant to look at. I heard afterwards that the party had 
consistedvof an American major and five men, who had been 
out on a hunt, and who had been attacked and murdered by 
the Sioux, only one man escaping, as he was on outpost duty 
at the time of the attack. The major had incurred the hatred 



152 REACH CAMP. 

of the Indians when they had visited a fort, at which he com- 
manded, during a temporary peace, and they had shown this by 
treating him more barbarously than the others. 

I found all well on reaching camp. F had had good 

sport and had seen no Indians, having been hunting chiefly to 
the south. 



» 



THUNDER-STORMS. 153 



CHAPTER XII. 

Awful thunder-storms. — Bad water-supply. — life in camp. — I leave for 
St. Joe. — Come across two Indians. — Arrive at Lake Sibley. — Swarm 
of grasshoppers. — Apprehensions of the settlers. — A man wishes me to 
engage him. I decline. — I make the acquaintance of a detective. — A 

plan to rob me. I manage to frustrate it. — Meet F at Martin's. — 

Sioux steal Pawnees' horses. Pawnees and Whites try to recover 
them. A light and repulse of Pawnees. — Mrs. Martin's reminiscences 
of her husband. — Poor sport. — Keturn to St. Joe. — Intend to winter in 
Texas. — Billy Breeze. His history. 

A few days after my return we had some of the most awful 
thunder-storms I ever saw even in America, where they are 
always much more severe than in Europe. The rain came 
down in sheets, and the lightning was incessant, and the thunder 
seemed to be just over the ridge-pole of the tent. We got a 
good deal of water inside owing to the ditch, which we always 
cut round the tent, not being deep enough. In the morning 
we found one of our ponies dead : it had evidently been struck 
by lightning and killed at once ; the head was folded under the 
body, and seemed, at first, to have been cut off, so entirely was 
it hidden. On such a night as this the wolves seem to be very 



154 BAD WATER-SUPPLY. 

much frightened, their howling being incessant, and the sound 
seems to be even more melancholy than usual, combining with 
the storm to keep the traveller awake. 

As the water in the stream was very bad and muddy we 
hunted for a spring, and found that what we had been drinking 
had all filtered through the ribs of a buffalo which had been 
dead some months, and which lay right across the channel. 
Why we were none of us ill I cannot understand, as we had 
been drinking this water for weeks. Water in the autumn 
was always the great trouble, as nearly all the streams dry up 
and leave stagnant pools, out of which we often drove buffalo, 
and the edges were as much trampled as if a flock of sheep had 
been there. Along the banks of the larger rivers there are 
some beautiful springs, especially on the Republican River, 
where we found a number of them as clear as crystal, and as 
cold as anyone could wish. Most of them had been carefully 
cleared out and covered with stones by the Indians. 

Our life in camp here was very pleasant, game was plentiful 
and in great variety, and we sometimes tried to make elaborate 
dishes, as the one told off to keep camp had plenty of time on 
his hands ; but, as a rule, the u game pies " and " vol-au-vents" 
were not successes, the pastry being hard to make and very 
much so to swallow. The bulldog, too, was a good deal of 
trouble to us, as he would always attack any porcupine he came 
across, coming into camp very often with his mouth a mass of 
quills — it took us sometimes fully an hour to pull them out — 
and in spite of this he would attack the next one he met, so 
that we thought of shooting him. He was a strange animal ; 
on our way through the settlement he had allowed any dog to 
bite him, hardly seeming to know what fighting meant, and yet 



COME ACROSS TWO INDIANS. 155 

on our return he thrashed every dog he came across, and did it 
scientifically, knowing exactly where to take hold. 

As we wanted a good many things from St. Joe, including 
money, I made up my mind to ride in on the horse which had 
kicked me, as he had become very thin and not fit for camp 
life, intending to sell him before I returned and to buy another ; 

and as F was going to move camp to Martin's, it was 

arranged that I was to go up from St. Joe by steamer to 
Nebraska city, which would shorten my return journey. I left 
about the end of July, taking as little baggage as possible ; and 
yet I found that I had nearly seventy pounds, including my 
saddle — a heavy load for so long a journey with nothing but 
grass for the horse. It took me two days to reach Lake 
Sibley, and on the second I was riding along the Republican 
River looking for a ford, when two Indians came down on the 
opposite bank and began to prepare to cross. Now they 
might be friendly, but this was not likely, and as there was no 
way of ascertaining this, the only thing to be done was to keep 
them where they were, so I waved them back with my hand, 
and as they still came on, I pointed my rifle at them. They 
made friendly signs, but of course this proved nothing, and I 
continued making gestures to indicate that I should fire if they 
entered the water. Instead of going away they sat down, 
holding their horses by the bridle, and now and then making 
signs to me, of which I took no notice. For several hours I 
had to sit there behind a log till it was quite dark, when 
instead of continuing my journey down the river, I struck out 
into the prairie for some miles, and then turning rode for the 
river again, much lower down ; and this ruse succeeded, as I 
saw no more of the Indians. 



156 SWARM OF GRASSHOPPERS. 

I reached Lake Sibley the following morning, having 
camped for the night on the river, and found the settlers very- 
much depressed at the arrival of a swarm of grasshoppers, 
which were destroying their crops and against which they 
could do nothing. Even while I was there, I saw a perceptible 
difference in a field of corn, which was simply swarming with 
them, and some of the neighbouring fields had lost every leaf. 
All the men I spoke to had made up their minds to leave at 
once, having no supplies for the winter, meaning to work for 
wages for some months and make a fresh start in the spring. 

The people here had been so often attacked by Indians 
during the summer, that my saying I had seen two on my way 
in caused a considerable stir, as the people assured me that it 
meant another raid on the settlement, the two Indians being 
probably scouts, sent in front of a larger body. 

I was three days doing the distance between Sibley and 
St. Joe, where I arrived safely, and found letters waiting for 
me. The supplies I needed were soon procured, and it only 
remained to sell my horse and buy another. I luckily soon 
found a customer for mine, a gambler who bought him to race, 
as I had said so much of his wonderful bottom • but getting a 
good pony for myself was difficult. A great number were 
brought for me to look at, but most of them were stable raised 
and of no use. At last I heard of one some miles from the 
town, and on going to see him 5 as I liked his appearance, I 
bought him. 

Having executed all my commissions, I was ready to start on 
the third day after my arrival, and on the morning of the day 
on which I intended to take the steamer for Nebraska city, a 
fine-looking man came to see me and wished me to engage him 



INTERVIEW WITH A DETECTIVE. 157 

in any capacity I thought proper, telling me that he had got 
into a scrape, the nature of which he would not explain. I 
replied that we had all the men we wanted, and after he had 
tried very hard to induce me to change my mind, telling me 
that he was an old plainsman and that I ought not to ride so 
far alone, he left me, and I went down to the boat leading my 
new pony, on which I had packed my small outfit. It took me 
till the boat had started to make the pony comfortable, and to 
put my saddle, &c, in my state-room ; but on going on deck I 
was much surprised to see the man who wished me to engage 
him, on the boat. 

I went up to him and asked him where he was going, and 
whether he had found something to do, on which he told me 
that he was going up the river to Omaha, where he had a friend 
with whom he could stay, that place being about seventy miles 
above Nebraska city. 

I thought no more of him, and soon got to know a number 
of my fellow passengers, who were very much interested in my 
proposed ride, thinking that anyone going on the plains when 
the Indians were so bad must certainly be killed. Amongst 
others, there was an old American general going up to Fort 
Benton with his wife and daughter, who did their best to induce 
me to go on with them, the general promising me an escort 
to camp from Benton; but this would have involved a very 
long ride, and I had no time for it. 

On the morning of the day after we left, a stranger, whom I 
had not noticed, called me on one side, and first giving me his 
card, from which I saw that he was a captain in the New York 
detective police, said that he had something very important to 
tell me. He then asked me if I was not an Englishman who 



158 PLAN TO ROB ME: 

had come into St. Joe for letters and money, and was now on 
my way to rejoin my companions on the Platte River. I 
replied that I was, wondering what was coming. He then told 
me that seeing one of the passengers whispering with a deck 
hand late on the previous evening, he had crept forward and 
had listened to their conversation, which, it seems, was about 
me. The passenger was the man of whom I have spoken, and 
the two men were discussing a plan for following and robbing 

me. Captain T offered to help me in any way I thought 

best, and it was decided between us that if the man got out at 
Nebraska city after saying that he was going on to Omaha, we 
should hunt up the city marshal, and arrange to have him 
detained till I was well on the road. 

Captain T had come from New York on the track of a 

murderer who had fled from that city, and was supposed to have 
gone up the Missouri, which was a fortunate thing for me, for 
had he not been there to overhear the conversation, the man 
might easily have joined me en route, and I could not have 
sent him back, as he had as much right to travel on that road 
as I had, when nothing would have been easier than for him to 
have shot me in the back as we rode along. 

When we reached Nebraska city that evening, Captain T 

and I went ashore, he having arranged with the captain of the 
boat to detain it for two hours ; and instead of walking into the 
town, we remained on the wharf for some time, when we saw 
the man who wished to go with me land and go into a whiskey- 
saloon near the wharf, so Captain T went to find the city 

marshal, and I remained to keep an eye on the house. On 
the arrival of the marshal, we went into the saloon and had a 
drink, and lest the man might suspect something, I asked him 



I FRUSTRATE IT. 159 

to join us, which he did. I then inquired what made him 
change his mind as to his destination, on which he said he had 
a friend in Nebraska, whom he wished to see. The marshal 
asked him the friend's name, and after hearing it we went out, 
a policeman in plain clothes being left to shadow the man. 

When we were well away from the place, the marshal said 
that he had never seen this man's face before, but he said " I 
know his friend well and he is a great scamp, and has under- 
gone one sentence, I know, for horse-stealing." We had a 
long talk about it, and it was finally arranged that I should see 
the man again and tell him that I was going to start in the 
morning ; but in reality I was to be off that evening, so as to 
reach Lincoln city, fifty miles away, by daybreak, leaving a 
letter at the hotel at which I was supposed to be stopping, to 
say that I knew of his plan and would shoot him " on sight " if 
he followed me. In the evening I went to a billiard-saloon, 
where I heard he was, and had a talk with him. He asked me 
when I was going to start, and I told him that I thought it 
would be about ten o'clock the next morning, and I also 
mentioned where I was stopping. It came out, in the course 
of conversation, that he had been champion prize-fighter of 
Montana, and therefore a very awkward man to have met 
even without weapons. 

I was off about seven o'clock, and rode all night, the road 
being luckily a very plain one as it was the old stage road, and 
before morning I was in Lincoln city, and had to wait some time 
for the hotel to open. I had a note for the marshal here, 
telling him to stop the man should he discover my ruse and 
succeed in evading the police in Nebraska city; but I never 
saw him again. 



160 ANOTHER VISIT TO MAKTIn's. 

My ride from here was an easy one, and I could have 
followed the road the whole way; but as it turned north to 
avoid a rough bit of country I took a straight line, hoping to 
find game, and as it was more interesting than following a road 
about sixty feet wide, which the stage road then was. I was 
three days doing the eighty or ninety miles, and killed two 
antelope on the way, besides seeing many more, and a good 
many ducks and grouse. 

On reaching Martin's I found that F had arrived three 

days before, and was enjoying the fare as much as I had done, 
while the animals were getting all the corn and oats they could 
eat. 

One evening we were sitting out in front of the ranche, 
when we saw a body of mounted men cross the end of the 
valley in which the house stood, about two miles away. It was 
dusk, and it was too far off to see what they were, so young 

Martin and F rode down the valley to examine the tracks, 

and came back before dark to tell us that it was a mixed party 
of Indians and white men, which was easy to see from some of 
the tracks being made by shod horses, though most of them 
were unshod, and some days later we heard the explanation of 
this. 

A small party of Sioux, numbering about twenty, had made 
a dash at the Pawnee horses near the reservation, and had 
succeeded in driving off a large band of them. About thirty 
Pawnees had immediately mounted, and accompanied by three 
white men who happened to be at the camp, had followed the 
Sioux. They came up with them not far from where we saw 
them cross our valley, and managed to creep up to the Sioux 
camp unperceived. The Sioux evidently did not know that 



MRS. martin's reminiscences. 161 

they were pursued, and were sitting round their camp fire 
smoking, when a volley was fired into them at close quarters 
and several fell. They were picked warriors, and instead of 
being demoralized they took cover at once, and a fight began in 
which the Pawnees and their white allies were beaten, and 
compelled to fly on foot, losing the horses they had been 
riding. 

These Pawnees were, at one time, a very warlike tribe, but, 
as is the case with the Navajoes, no sooner were they partially 
civilized than they became cowardly, excepting where they had 
been disciplined like the six hundred at Fort Kearney. 

Mrs. Martin amused us very much with an account of the 
doings of her husband at the time of the American civil war. 
He was a southern sympathizer, and had to get all his supplies 
from a fort garrisoned by northern troops, so that as everyone 
knew his sentiments he had things said to him which, with his 
love of fighting, he found it hard to bear. When leaving the 
post one evening with his wife, as they drove past a whiskey- 
saloon, some one called out to him and wanted to know when 

that d d little Johnny Bull was going to leave the country, 

as it would soon be made too hot to hold him. On which 
Martin asked the speaker to step outside, and he at once did so, 
proving to be a big settler from a ranche on the other side of the 
fort. Martin told him to take off his coat, and then, although 
he was himself a small man, he proceeded to give him a sound 
thrashing, taking only a few minutes in doing it. One of the 
bystanders saying something he did not like, Martin very soon 
treated him in the same way, offering then to fight any man 
in the crowd, on which a cheer was raised for the little 
Englishman, and he was never again insulted by anyone at 

M 



162 A CARNIVOROUS HORSE. 

the fort. Shortly before our arrival, a soldier was continually 
coming to the ranche courting one of Martin's daughters ; he 
was told that he was not wanted, but still came whenever he 
could get away, so at last Martin lost patience, and seized him 
by the collar and threw him out of the door, when he took the 
hint and had not been since. 

We left the ranche about the beginning of August, and 
struck up the Republican River, but found nothing but old 
buffalo bulls, the Indians having driven all the cows and calves 
south ; the water of the river, too, was very bad, as it was 
almost like liquid mud ; there were some beautiful ice-cold 
springs about, but the Indians having camped near them 
so often, there was no grass left, and the only game was 
turkeys, so our sporting experiences are not worth recording. 

During my absence, F had bought a horse from some 

professional hunters, which was the only one I ever saw which 
would eat meat. His former owners had spent the last winter 
in trapping on the Republican, and had been burned out by the 
Sioux, and all their horses died but this one, which had taken 
to eating any scraps of meat he found lying round camp and to 
gnawing the bones. He would still eat a little if he came across 
it, though it had by no means agreed with him, as his coat had 
nearly all come off and never regrown, except in patches. 

We remained till the beginning of September, and then 
returned to St. Joe, having decided on wintering in Texas, then 
a wonderful country for game. We sold off everything but 
Polly, as I intended to take her with me, and we bought a 
number of dogs, chiefly pointers and setters, as we hoped to 
find a great deal of small game where we were going. W^e 
engaged an old Welshman to look after these on the way down 



BILLY BREEZE. 163 

the river, whose name was Billy Breeze, and who had qnite a 
history. 

He had, first of all, been a policeman in London, but was 
dismissed for drinking; then he had returned to his native 
village and turned poacher, and had been sent out to America 
by means of a subscription raised in the neighbourhood, where 
he was very popular in spite of his bad habits. On arriving in 
America, he had gradually drifted West, never working long 
anywhere, and had settled at St. Joe as a professional hunter, at 
which he had done well, as game was very abundant and he 
was a good shot. When the war broke out, Billy had joined 
the northern army and had fought bravely, being wounded 
twice ; the last time a bullet broke his leg and caused him to 
limp ever after, so that he was discharged and returned to 
St. Joe, where he took up his old calling again, adding to it the 
breaking of dogs, at which he was very good. Here we found 
him, and taking a fancy to him engaged him to go with us as 
dog-keeper and general factotum. 



164 VOYAGE DOWN THE MISSOURI. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Voyage down the Missouri. — Wild-fowl shooting. — Objectionable freed 
slaves. — New Orleans. — My companion dies of cholera. I also am 
attacked. I recover. — Meet some Confederate generals. — Gambling- 
saloon. — Galveston. — Several shooting-trips. — An expensive night's 
lodging. — A young Englishman joins us. — A New Yorker and his 
supper-party. — The lone tree. — Difficulties with the waggon. — The 

town of Richmond. — We are fined. But do not pay. — F has an 

accident. — A useful doctor. — General Sheridan's horse. — Buy a wild 
horse. — A stream in flood. — Racing in Texas. — A racing mule. 

The voyage down the Missouri and Mississippi was somewhat 
monotonous, especially as far as St. Louis, the banks being as 
a rule low, and the only trees cotton-woods. There were, 
however, many incidents to enliven the voyage. We often ran 
on a sandbar, as the river was very low in the autumn months, 
and we had to be poled over it ; this was done as follows : 
Two poles were stuck in the sand one on each side of the 
boat's bow, which was then hoisted between them by ropes 
fastened to the sides of the deck and passing over the tops of 
the poles, the ropes being hauled upon by the engine. When 
the bow was sufficiently raised the engines were sent ahead 



WILD-FOWL SHOOTING. 165 

full speed, and the boat was thus thrown forward several feet, 
this being repeated till the bar was past. When the water 
still proved too shallow, the vessel had to be forced backwards 
off the bar. 

The chief amusement of the passengers was wild-fowl 
shooting. An immense number of all kinds of birds go down 
the river every autumn, on their way to the south for the 
winter, and these would settle down for the night on the 
sandbars. We used, therefore, to get up a party among the 
passengers, when the boat was moored for the night (as the 
river was so shallow, it did not pay to run after dark), and 
having borrowed the small boat which was generally towed 
astern, we rowed to the nearest sandbar. Here we hid 
ourselves behind snags or logs which had become imbedded in 
the sand, and for about an hour at sunset the firing was often 
incessant, the crew retrieving the birds which fell into the 
river, and becoming so excited that they did not hesitate to 
plunge into the water to get them. In this way we often got 
thirty or forty ducks in an evening, besides some geese, not to 
speak of those which we. shot during the daytime, as our 
captain was good-natured enough to allow us to take the boat 
to recover any which fell. This shooting from a moving 
steamer required a good deal of practice, as it was necessary to 
allow for the speed at which the boat was going, and at first we 
missed a good many. 

We passed Fort Leavenworth, which, when I first came to 
America, was on the border of the Indian country, but which 
had now been left far behind by the settlements, and was used 
only as a depot. At St. Louis we changed steamers and 
remained one day, putting up at the Lindell House, a very good 



166 NEW ORLEANS. 

hotel, which was burned down soon after we left, with the loss 
of many lives. 

From this place we had a splendid steamer, doing twenty 
miles an hour, as comfortable and with as good fare as an 
hotel : the banks of the river, too, became more interesting ; 
towns were frequent and, as we got near New Orleans, fine 
plantations were very numerous. These we heard were much 
more prosperous-looking from the boat than in reality, as 
since the war so many of them had been deserted, and none 
were kept up as they had been in the slave times. Since the 
emancipation, the negroes, or " gentlemen of colour " as they 
called themselves, had become most objectionable, as I had 
many opportunities of seeing, and as was to be expected from 
suddenly freed slaves. They put on great airs and took every 
opportunity of taunting and lording it over their late masters. 
In some cases they remained on the plantations, but worked or 
not as it pleased them, and could not be punished in any 
way. 

We were much taken with New Orleans ; it had a very 
French look, and it was a relief to get away from towns where 
the streets were always at right angles to one another. We 
put up at the St. James' Hotel, and caused quite a commotion 
in the streets as we walked to it, leading more than a dozen 
dogs and the mare. 

The state fair was going on when we arrived, and I went 
out to see it a day or two later with a very nice young fellow, 
whose acquaintance I had made on the steamer. His father 
had been a rich planter before the war, and my friend had 
been educated at Heidelberg ; but while he was there the war 
broke out, and his father and he were ruined, losing nearly 



ATTACKED BY CHOLERA. 167 

six hundred slaves. Soon after his father died, and he sold the 
plantation for less than half its value to a Northern man, aDd 
now lived an idle life in New Orleans. On the way back from the 
fair, he complained of feeling a great deal of pain, so I called a 
cab and took him to the hotel, where I sat with him till near 
midnight, going to bed then as he said he felt better ; so my 
astonishment may be imagined when on ringing in the morning 
to inquire after him, I was told that he had died of cholera 
about four o' clock and was already buried, as is the law in such 
cases. We had not heard of cholera being in the city, and now 
I found that people were dying at the rate of two hundred a 
day. Two days afterwards I felt the same symptoms myself, 
and on sending for a doctor I found I was down with the 
same complaint. In a few hours I was very bad, but the 
doctor told me, on his leaving me at night, that if I was there 
in the morning I should do; and this I determined to be if 
possible, which I have found to be one half the battle. In the 
morning I was much better, but I was very ill for three weeks, 
and just when Billy Breeze would have been a great deal of 
use to me, I found that he. was in prison for fighting, leaving 
the dogs to look after themselves. 

While in the city I was introduced to a number of Con- 
federate generals, including Beauregard, Jeff Thomson, and 
Morgan, and one night was taken by them to a fashionable 
gambling-house, where everything was on a sumptuous scale ; 
the servants all wearing elaborate liveries, the rooms beautifully 
furnished, and a first-class supper being served every night at 
twelve o'clock, free to all who chose to partake of it, when 
every kind of wine was to be had for the asking. I would 
not stay for this, as I was not going to play, but my 



168 A KIND INVITATION. 

companions did. The host was much more like an English 
country squire than a gambling-house keeper, and discussed 
sport with me as if fond of it. 

F and I remained in New Orleans for five weeks, chiefly 

on account of my illness, and then left for Galveston, the 
capital of Texas, in a miserable little steamer, with poor 
accommodation. Galveston is a very prettily situated place, 
being on a long island off the coast of Texas, with, on the 
land side, the finest beach I ever saw. It is eight miles long 
and at low tide half a mile wide. We put up at the Palmetto 
House, kept by an Irish lady, a Mrs. McDonnell — there was a 
Mr. of that name, but he was a mere cipher in the establish- 
ment. Here we had to wait some time for letters from home, 
so we made numerous excursions into the surrounding country 
for quail, pintailed grouse, and ducks. 

On one of our first trips to the mainland we stopped at the 
house of a man named Gallagher, an Irishman, and happening 
one day when shooting to come on the railway, we went into 
a small store, which was also a railway-station, to buy some- 
thing which we needed, and got into conversation with the 
man who kept it, who introduced himself to us as Captain 
Richardson, late of the Southern army. On our saying where 
we were staying, and that the fare was bad, he very hospitably 
pressed us to come back and stay the night at his house, where 
he said he could give us something better. He so evidently 
wished us to come, that we consented, Billy Breeze being with 
us, and walked with him to a very pretty little wooden house, 
covered with creepers and standing in a garden, where he 
introduced us to his wife and daughter, who seemed very nice 
also. Everything was beautifully clean, and our room was all 



EXPENSIVE NIGHT'S LODGING. 169 

we could wish. They gave us a capital dinner, insisting on 
opening all kinds of canned things, such as peaches, apricots, 
and pine-apples, besides a number of bottles of Scotch ale. In 
the morning we fared equally well, and wished him good-bye 
with effusion, hoping we might have the pleasure of seeing him 
again, when, to our horror, he presented a bill nearly as long as 
one's arm, in which every tin and every bottle was entered at 
a fancy price, our board and lodging for one night coming to 
close on twenty-nine dollars, or six pounds, more than double 
what it would have been at the Lindell House at St. Louis. 
Of course we had to pay, and I remember had to send Billy 
back for the money, as we had not brought enough with us. 
I do not wish my readers to take Captain Richardson as a type 
of a Texan, as he was not so by any means, he, and one other, 
of whom more by-and-by, being the only two specimens of his 
class that we met. Texans are generally very hospitable and 
generous to a fault. 

We found a great many quail almost everywhere, and also 
grouse, the three of ns often getting seventy odd brace of the 
former in one day, and half that number of the latter. There 
were in addition always deer to be found, and we often jumped 
them when after small game. No one seemed to shoot in 
those days, and deer they seemed to think were not worth 
eating, and people did not even thank you for a present of 
venison, living themselves almost entirely on pork. 

As soon as our letters came we fitted out for our trip to 
Denver, intending to go by way of San Antonio, Fort Mason, 
and Fort Belknap, but meaning to take our time to San 
Antonio, as we did not wish to get there till the spring grass 
was up. Our waggon and mules we decided to get at Houston, 



170 ENGAGE A CHEF. 

but we engaged most of the men before we started, the first 
being a man named Brown, whom we found as a waiter at one 
of the restaurants, taking him to drive the waggon, our chief 
trouble being to find a cook. 

One day, however, as we were walking along the main street 
of Galveston, we saw a man coming towards us, who, though 
dressed chiefly in rags, yet had put them on so that you hardly 
noticed what they were, and was walking along with a jaunty 
air, as if in the best of spirits. We spoke to him, and found 
that he was a Frenchman who had been in the Chasseurs 
d'Afrique, and, later, had joined the force got together by the 
filibuster Walker, in Mexico. On the death of his leader he 
had drifted into Texas, where he had lived by his wits. There 
was so much " go " in the man, in spite of the emptiness of 
his pockets, that we engaged him as cook, as he said he was a 
" Chef/' and we sent him out to the camp which we had formed 
between Galveston and Houston. On following him to camp, 
we were asked by Billy, what had made us engage a u frog- 
eating mounseer " who thought of nothing but his appearance 
and could not speak English ? Billy and Louis, as the cook 
was called, were always falling out and having to be separated, 
and gave us endless trouble, and later on we were obliged to 
send Louis away. 

Meaning to complete our outfit in Houston we left for that 
place early in December. A railway running for some way on 
a high trestle viaduct connects Galveston with the mainland, 
and a few hours took us to Houston, then a town of some ten 
thousand inhabitants. Here we bought a waggon and a pair 
of mules, harness, saddles, and supplies, besides seven horses — 
I having four and F three. Here we added another to 



A NEW YORKER AND HIS SUPPER-PARTY. 171 

our party, a young Englishman whose name was H , who 

agreed to remain with us till we reached Denver. We also 
got two more men, l< Bill " and " John/'' both of them from 
the old country, and good fellows they were, and our party was 
now complete. 

While getting our outfit together we made the acquaintance 
of a New Yorker who had been sent to Texas for his sins, his 
friends refusing to give him any more money unless he went to 
Texas, and into some business there ; so here we found him as a 
saddler, not that he knew anything about the trade, but he had 
a manager who conducted the business, and he passed his 
time in going about in a velvet suit making calls on his 
acquaintances. He invited us to supper one evening, saying 
that his friends had just sent him a hamper of good things, and 
when we went about eight o' clock at night we found that he had 
forgotten to tell his housekeeper that he was expecting guests, 
so that she had gone home for the night, and had locked up 
everything; consequently the supper consisted only of pate-de- 
foie gras and champagne, and as I was the only one of the 
party who could eat the former without bread I finished the 
tin. 

Our new friend H was a good shot at small game and 

a good rider, but had never killed anything bigger than a hare, 
or done any camping out ; but he soon took to it, and before 
long was as good a man in camp as any of us, beating us all 
in one particular, which was as a trencherman, where we were 
simply " not in it/' as he would eat as much as any two of us. 
Louis's cookery was anything but satisfactory, in spite of the 
grand names which he gave his dishes, his bread being 
especially uneatable. I remember the first lot he gave us. 



172 THE " LONE TREE." 

which appeared in the form of cannon-balls and of the same 
colour, and though he called them " Petits pains a la 
Parisienne " we none of us could eat them ; we therefore very 
soon sent him back, and installed John, who had been first a 
pastry-cook and then a prize-fighter, as cook, but not before 
Billy and Louis had had some rounds, in the course of which 
the latter was knocked into the fire. 

From Houston we started north for a place called Richmond, 
getting into trouble on our second night out. There was a 
landmark going by the name of the "lone tree " standing out 
on the prairie, away from all timber, which had served as a 
directing-post for ages. It consisted of a large dead tree, and 
it stood in what was in wet weather a swamp. On the second 
evening we found ourselves not far from this tree, with our 
animals tired and the wheels half buried in the swamp. We 
managed to reach the tree, which was on a small dry mound, 
but could get no further, so we had to camp, picketing our 
animals out round the tree, and making our fire up against it, 
and also using some of it to burn. There was not room for all 
of us to sleep on the mound, so some slept in the waggon ; 
but I was one of the former, and in the night we were awoke 
by the heat, and found the tree on fire to the top, and it was 
all consumed when we left it in the morning. 

On hitching up we found the waggon was firmly imbedded, 
and our team could not move it an inch, so hearing the creaking 
of wheels on the opposite side of a small rise, we rode there, 
and found a negro driving four span of oxen to Houston, and 
promised him five dollars if he would get us out of the swamp, 
but this he refused to do, telling us that he had no time. As 
another team might not pass all day, we told him that we 



WE ARE FINED. 173 

should take the oxen, on which he brought two span and took 
us out at once, oxen being very much better in mud than 
mules. We passed through Richmond, which was then a 
miserable little place, and camped on a creek some eight or 
ten miles on the other side, choosing that spot as it was near a 
cabin where we could buy butter, milk, &c. 

When riding through the town we met an Irishman named 
Gallagher (no relation to our late host), who told us of a wonder- 
ful race-mare he had, which was said to be the fastest animal in 

Texas, so a day or two after pitching oar camp F and I 

rode in to have a look at her, going most of the way at a 
gallop. We saw the mare, with which we were disappointed, 
and were returning to camp when a man came up and told us 
that the Justice wanted to see us, so we accompanied him to 
the court house. Here we were informed by that official that 
we were fined one sovereign each for riding fast through the 
town. Now Richmond was a straggling place, and what they 
called the principal street had no houses for some distance, 
and then only one now and again at long intervals, the street 
itself being a sandy track ; so we told him that we had seen no 
regulation about riding fast, and had not even known we were 
in the town, so we should not pay, on which we walked out 
and rode off at full speed. As we were leaving the town, we 
came across a herd of cattle, which separated to let us through, 
and we were almost past them when a yearling calf, finding, I 
suppose, that its mother had gone in the opposite direction, 

crossed right in front of us, and F , who was ahead, ran 

into it, going at full speed, turning a complete summersault, 
horse and all, and landed with a loud tbud in a cloud of dust, 
sending the calf some ten yards in front of him. On pulling 



174 V- BEEAKS HIS COLLAR-BONE. 

up and going back to him, I found that his collar-bone was 
broken, so I helped him on to his horse and took him to camp, 
and returned at once to Richmond for a doctor, whom I had 
great difficulty in finding, coming on him at last in a whiskey- 
saloon playing cards. He returned with me and bound up the 

shoulder, but just as he was finishing H ■ came in from 

shooting, and seeing how the bandages were put on, told the 
doctor be could not know his business, as they did no good at 
all as they were, the bones not being united, and that the arm 
was not supported round the neck. The doctor immediately 
flared up, saying that he knew his own business best, and 
demanded twenty-five dollars (£5) for what he had done, but 

as we could feel that it was as H said, we refused to pay 

him anything. On this he got very abusive, called us swindlers 
and other names, when we told him that if he did not leave the 
camp in five minutes we would put him in the creek; so he 
rode off in a furious rage, saying that he would come back with 
some friends and clear us out, but he must have thought better 
of it as we never saw him again. 

I have said nothing as yet of our horses, so I will do so here. 

F had three capital ponies, much better hred than 

the common run of them, and just the right height for 

hunting. H had two, but they were too large, being 

nearly sixteen hands high. I had my mare Polly,, a bay horse 
I had bought in Galveston, and a black horse, which has been 
immortalized in a poem, being the one ridden by General 
Sheridan in his twenty-mile ride before the battle of 
Lexington, when he retrieved the fortunes of the day by 
doing that distance in the hour. He had been sold as 
going blind ; but this proved to be a mistake, and he was one 



BUY A WILD HOKSE. 175 

of the best horses I ever sat on, and was very handsome, 
being a black about fifteen hands and a half high and three- 
quarters bred. While in this camp we had an opportunity 
of seeing how rapidly streams can rise ; we had been told 
of a small rivulet becoming a roaring torrent in a single 
night, but had not believed it, and we were now to see a proof 
of this. 

Some men came into our camp one evening, and told 
us that near where they lived a horse had just been re- 
captured by lassoing from a wild band, which they thought 
would suit us if we could tame him. He was, they said, 
thorough-bred and very handsome, but owing to his having 
run wild for two years, he had not come to his proper growth, 
being only fourteen and a half hands high. This was the size 

we preferred, so tempted by the description H and I 

determined to go and see him, and as they stayed the night in 
our camp we went with them the next morning. A ride of 
twelve miles brought us to a farm, where we found the horse 
tied in the middle of a field, and he was so wild that they had 
put three lariats on him fastened to different posts. On going 
up to him he trembled all over, and the sweat poured off him, 
nor would he allow us to touch him, crouching down when we 
attempted to do so ; but he was so handsome and so well made, 
that I bought him, giving two hundred dollars (j640) for him. 
He was a bright chestnut with a skin like satin, showing a 
network of veins all over it ; he had splendid shoulders, was 
well ribbed up and very big under the knee, and when we had 
had him some time he filled out wonderfully. The great trouble 
was, how to take him to camp ; so I bought him on condition 
that he was to be delivered safe at our tent. 



176 A STREAM IN FLOOD. 

During the night a storm came on, lasting the greater part 
of the next day, so that we had to remain two nights at the 
farm, but it cleared up towards evening, and the following 
morning we started, two men leading the horse, which I called 
ec Henry /' that being the name of his sire ; each of the men 
having a raw-hide lariat round his neck and fastened to the 
horn of the saddle. There was some desperate plunging at 
first, but finding he was powerless, he at length submitted 
and came quietly. On reaching our creek, which we had left 
about three yards wide, and so shallow that we often went for 
milk to the cabin in our slippers, we found it was now a torrent 
fully sixty yards wide, and as there were trees on each side, 
between which the water was rushing, crossing it would be 
very awkward, as you would almost certainly be dashed against 
these. We therefore camped where we were, and picketed 
" Henry," sending the men back. 

We had arrived about dusk, having come very slowly, and 
had been very much surprised at getting no answer from 
camp, nor could we see the tent or waggon, though we were 
just opposite to where we had left them; so in the morning 

we fired some shots, on which F appeared on a small hill 

some way off, and came down to the other side of the torrent, 
telling us that all was well, but that they had had to shift camp 

suddenly. H and I made up our minds to swim it on 

horseback, taking off most of our clothing, and leaving our rifles 
and saddles behind ; so we plunged in, and the horses did not 
seem to mind it much; but we at once found that we could 
not make any way at all, as we were carried down the stream 
and bumped against the trees; so we jumped off and struck 
out for the opposite shore, leaving the horses to shift for 



177 

themselves, having merely knotted np the reins, and by 
swimming from tree to tree, and resting to recover breath, 
we at last reached the bank five or six hundred yards lower 
down than where we started from, the horses getting over 
before we did. 

F told ns that he had been asleep in the tent, and was 

lying on a feather-bed — lent him by the wife of the owner of 
the cabin on account of his broken collar-bone — when being 
woke by the awful rain, he had put out his hand to feel if any 
water had come in, and had found that there were about two 
inches in the tent. He at once jumped up and called the men, 
who were sleeping in the waggon, and they had hitched up 
and moved to high ground, losing a number of things which 
were not noticed in the dark, and which were of course washed 
away by the stream, which was now four feet deep where our 
tent had stood. 

The water subsided as rapidly as it had risen, the creek being 
in its normal condition on the second day after our return, and 
even on the morning after the flood it had become low enough 
for us to ride over and water (< Henry ; " but we left him on 
the other side till the stream had quite subsided, as he refused 
to enter it. We very soon made him much quieter, by feediag 
him with corn and standing by him while he ate it, and he 
would now let us groom him, if we did not do anything suddenly. 
From the first he did not mind a gun being fired, and a 
fortnight made him like an old horse. It took seven of us to 
lunge him, and sometimes we were all on the ground together, 
and would be dragged several yards. I rode him first, putting 
on breeches and boots for the occasion, but beyond running 

N 



178 HORSE-RACING IN TEXAS. 

away for a few miles he did nothing, and was very quiet after 
that. 

We made two more camps on this creek, as feed was good 
and game of all kinds close at hand ; and tben we moved 
north, stopping where we could find game, ducks and geese 
being in thousands, as they had now all arrived from the 
north. I used to do most of my grouse-shooting from the 
saddle, when I rode Polly, who would always stop suddenly 
when I raised my gun to fire, and who very often saw game 
before I did. 

Hearing that we had brought her with us from the north, 
everyone thought it must be for racing purposes, and many 
horses were brought to camp to run against her ; but we 
refused to race, as it nearly always led to some unpleasantness, 
and frequently to a fight with revolvers. All races in that 
part of the country were very short, from three to six 
hundred yards, and the horses started at the report of a 
pistol. 

While in Galveston I saw a heavy-looking, badly bred 
animal, belonging to some gamblers, which required a whip 
when being ridden as a hack, but which when on a race-track 
I did not recognize, being all fire and spirit ; it ran a quarter 
of a mile in eighteen seconds, and beat a fine chestnut 
thoroughbred, which had a great name as a mile horse. 
This kind of racing is most unsatisfactory and leads to a 
great deal of trickery and cheating, so that we never went 
in for it, after our first trial. Everything depends upon the 
start when running so short a distance, and the gamblers, who 
are nearly always the racehorse owners u out west/' will take 



A RACING MULE. 179 

any advantage they can of you, backing one another up if you 
object. I saw in Texas what I had never heard of before, 
which was a racing mule ; and it was said to be as fast as any 
horse for six hundred yards, and being such an unlikely animal 
to run, had taken a number of people in. 



n2 



180 A BANKRUPT RAILWAY. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Move to Clear Lake. — A bankrupt railway. — Abundance of game. — Stalking 
wild geese. — Invitation to a bear-bunt. — A nortber. Story of a norther. 
— Lyncb law. — Bear-bunting poor sport. — Great abundance of snipe. — 
Good sbooting. — Extortionate landlord. — Semi-wild bogs. — Wild bulls. 
Narrow escapes from them. — Our dog Booze. His fighting capabilities. 
— Invitation to a plantation. Melancholy appearance of it. — A good 
afternoon at the ducks.— A Masonic tip. — A Texan ball. — Buying 
mules. — Fishing in Texas. 

Towards tine end of November we moved on to Clear Lake, a 
very pretty camp, and only a mile and a half from a railway 
station. This railway was a source of much amusement to us. 
It was only forty miles long, running from Houston to 
Alleyton, and it was in a bankrupt condition; there was 
only one engine, which made the journey to Alley ton one 
day and returned the next, and was very uncertain as to its 
time of arrival and departure. The engine was an old shunting 
one from New Orleans, with a leaky boiler, which after 
running four or five miles, and sometimes less, had to stop to 
get up steam. On one occasion I had started from camp on 
horseback, carrying a deer on the front of the saddle, and a 



STALKING WILD GEESE. 181 

quantity of small game being hung round it, intending to be 
at the station when the train arrived, and to send my game by 
it to Galveston. As I came in sight of the station, which was 
then a mile distant, I saw the train just leaving it, and 
anywhere else should have returned to camp ; but I knew the 
peculiarities of that engine, and that it was bound to stop near 
a certain tree about four miles from the station, so I cantered 
across and met the train, asking the engine-driver to pull up 
so that I might put my game on - this, however, he refused to 
do, so I continued alongside and chaffed him, telling him that 
he would have to pull up soon, and might as well do it then, but 
as he still refused to do so, I cantered on and stopped at the 
tree and waited, when sure enough the train came to a standstill 
near me. 

We had splendid sport at Clear Lake, as all kinds of game 
were in great abundance ; snipe especially were very plentiful, 
also ducks and grouse of two kinds — pintailed and pinnated ; 
but what we enjoyed most was shooting geese, which were very 
numerous, and could be found scattered all over the prairie 
feeding on the grass. If you stood on any high point you 
could see hundreds of flocks in every direction, and our way of 
stalking them was as follows : — We would each take a quiet pony 
with only a bridle on him, and describe a large circle on the 
prairie, stooping so as to be concealed behind him from all 
those inside this circle. Of course we put up a good many, 
but this did not disturb the others, who merely ran together 
towards the centre ; we gradually contracted this circle, getting 
nearer and nearer to the middle, till within perhaps a hundred 
yards, and the geese began to put up their heads and cackle, 
when we jumped on the ponies and galloped in as hard as we could 



182 INVITATION TO A BEAR-HUNT. 

go, and in this way often got within forty yards before they 
were well on the wing, firing over our pony's head and getting 
three or four with the two barrels. Another way was to drive 
an ox up to them, lying flat on a raw hide, which was attached 
to the yoke by traces. By driving as if you were going to pass 
them, you could frequently get very near. Another way was 
to stalk them with a pea rifle, when you got some very pretty 
shooting. Beside geese there were a good many sand-hill 
cranes, standing about four feet high, which could be stalked 
in the same way, requiring, however, much more caution to be 
used in order to get near enough to them, as they are such 
shy birds. When wounded you had to be careful how you 
approached them, as when their legs were not broken fhey 
would jump at your face in a moment, and the beak being 
about six inches long and very sharp, could inflict a bad wound. 
Soon after camping on Clear Lake we received an invitation 
to a bear-hunt on a large scale, which was to come off in the 
Brazos bottom (a strip of timber six miles wide lying along 
the Brazos River) from an old settler named Estes. He was 
quite a character, living the life of a hunter in a house far 
removed from any neighbour, and cultivating only enough land 
to supply himself with flour and vegetables and his horses with 
corn. He had served in the Southern Army during the war, 
and when the South had to give in, he had taken an oath not 
to cut his hair till she had had her revenge, so that it had not 
been cut for more than three years and was like a rough mane. 
When we reached his house we found a number of men 
collected, and a great variety of dogs, most of them curs, 
which, however, answer better for that kind of hunting than 
well-bred hounds. 



A NORTHER. 183 

In the course of the evening, when we were sitting in the 
verandah in our shirt sleeves, we had an opportunity of seeing 
a storm peculiar to Texas, called a " Norther." It was very 
warm, more like summer than November, and we were enjoying 
it, when Estes, happening to look towards the north, told 
us to get our coats as we should need them very soon ; and 
looking in the same direction we saw a long black line, which 
as we watched it seemed to be coming nearer ; then we heard 
a whispering among the leaves, which increased in loudness till 
it became a roar, and the norther was on us. In this case it 
consisted of only a very cold and strong wind, against which it 
would have been very difficult to ride or walk if on the open 
prairie ; but sometimes it is accompanied by a snow-storm of 
terrible violence, and then if caught in the open it often means 
death unless shelter can speedily be found. This storm lasted 
about three hours, but they sometimes continue to blow for 
three days. 

A half-breed, whom I met in Dacotah, and who seemed to 
have wonderful powers of standing cold, told me that once when 
carrying despatches between Fort Wadsworth and Fort Aber- 
crombie, in company with another half-breed, they had been 
overtaken by a blizzard, which much resembles a Texan 
norther, excepting that it may come from any quarter, and 
that as they happened to be near some timber they had ridden 
hard and had time to off saddle and get under their blankets 
before the worst of the storm reached them. Under these they 
remained for three days, the storm being accompanied by 

A- 

snow, which buried them and helped to keep them warm. At 

" the end of that time my informant had come out from under 

the snow and had found his companion dead and frozen stiff; 



184 A 1S T EGE0 LYNCHED. 

and this he said was owing to his being a drunkard, while he 
himself took no spirits of any kind. They had plenty of food 
with them, though they had to eat the meat raw, so that it 
could not have been starvation which killed the man. 

But to return to our bear-hunt. Later in the evening, 
when the norther had blown itself out and we were again 
sitting on the verandah, a young fellow rode up, whom most 
of those present seemed to know; and on his joining us some 
one said to him — " Well, did you get him ? " on which he 
answered " Yes, but we did not bring him in" ; and then the 
subject was changed, as if everyone knew what this meant. Now 
men are inquisitive sometimes, though of course very seldom, 

and F and I (for H was not with us) were curious to 

know what this meant, so we crossed to where the young 
fellow was sitting and asked him. 

It seemed that some weeks before, he had gone into 
Galveston to buy his winter supplies, taking with him two 
negroes, who had been with his family all their lives, and who, 
when all slaves were freed, had chosen to remain as servants, 
getting wages ; and that while in Galveston two women returning 
from market had been set upon by negroes and robbed, besides 
being badly beaten. For some reason one of his servants was 
suspected, and was arrested and lodged in prison. On hearing 
this he had gone to him to say that if he was innocent he 
would provide counsel to defend him, and as the negro assured 
him that he was so, he saw a lawyer and arranged matters with 
him. However, before the trial came off, this negro had 
managed to escape, thereby proving himself guilty. Knowing 
how stupid negroes are, and how they often when pursued go 
to the very place where you would be sure to look for them, 



THE BEAR-HUNT. 185 

he felt certain that his man had gone straight home ; so he 
went by rail to within forty miles of the place, and then hired 
a horse to ride the rest of the way, telling the people of the 
place where he got the horse what he was going for. The 
man had done as he expected ; so he seized him, pnt him 
on a horse, and was bringing him in to the railway, when, as 
he expressed it, " The boys met me and we put him up." I 
asked what that meant, on which he leant forward, and 
pointing to his horse, which was still standing saddled at the 
fence, he asked us if we could see a raw-hide lariat on the 
saddle, and on our saying that we could, he said, " Well, that 
is what we put him up with." They, it seems, had hung him 
to a tree. When we asked his reason for so doing, he said 
that since the war it had been almost impossible to get a negro 
punished, the usual plan being to send any who had committed 
a crime to a black regiment, and that therefore in this case 
they had taken the law into their own hands. He added that 
when we had been longer in the country we should often hear 
of troublesome negroes having disappeared, and of having gone 
on a visit to their friends in the north, which meant in reality 
that they had gone underground. 

The following morning we started, about twenty men on 
horseback, for the bear-hunt, Estes and two or three more 
going in one direction while we went in another, the idea 
being to beat up to us. One of the party, who was an old 
hand at this kind of thing, placed us, telling us to fire at 
nothing but bears. For some time not a sound was heard, but 
after waiting more than an hour I heard the dogs coming, and 
then a shot, followed by another, and all was still. It seemed 
an age before I heard them again, and when I did they seemed 



186 A pook day's sport. 

to be coming my way, and something passed by my right, 
though the bushes were too thick for me to see what it was, 
and a few seconds later my two nearest neighbours, shouting 
that it was a bear, left their posts, and followed the dogs, on 
which I did the same. This kind of riding I soon found 
required a long apprenticeship, for though the ground is as a 
rule free from brush, yet long vines hang from the trees, and 
oblige a man to lie flat, and be very quick about it, as he 
passes under them, or he will be swept off his horse. 

The Texans are fine horsemen, almost all of them being able 
to pick up a hat off the ground when passing it at a gallop ; 
and I have more than once seen a man, when going at a walk, 
stoop and pick up his hat which a branch had knocked off 
without stopping his horse. 

I soon found that I could not keep up, and arrived about five 
minutes after the bear had been shot, and had fallen from the 
tree in which he had taken refuge. Sometimes they get into 
a cane brake, in which case you must dismount, tie up your 
horse, and cut your way through the dense canes to the bear, 
which is very hard work, and necessitates the carrying of a 
large knife made for the purpose. Two bears were killed on 
this occasion, and were of the small black variety, and neither 

F nor I got a shot at either ; the only game of any kind 

which came our way was one deer. We returned to camp the 
next morning, not caring for any more bear-hunting of that 
kind. The favourite way of killing deer among the Texans 
was by driving them with dogs, and taking stands as in bear- 
hunting, the deer being generally found near the edges of the 
wood, while the bears are much further in. The Brazos 
bottom was a grand hunting-ground, consisting as it did of six 



ABUNDANCE OF SNIPE. 187 

miles of forest on each side of the river. The number of snipe 
here was astonishing, and I heard of one man who killed more 
than a hundred couple to his own gun in one day. We never 
cared to give up so much time to snipe-shooting, so did not get 
such large bags, but forty or fifty couple in a morning was 
common. 

One day, just as we were going to dinner, a man rode up 
and stopped to speak to us, so we asked him to join us. We 
happened that day to have a specially good bill of: fare, and he 
enjoyed his dinner thoroughly, and remained with us for some 
hours discussing Texas and the game to be found there. He 
told us that he lived about twelve miles away, and that there 
were thousands of snipe all round his house, and that if we 
cared to shoot such small game, he would be very glad to 
put us up. We at once accepted his invitation; and taking 
Billy Breeze with us, to look after the horses, we rode over to 
his house a few days afterwards. It proved to be a very 
dilapidated place, many of the doors being gone and most of 
the glass broken in the windows. This he explained by saying 
that he had been ruined by the war, and had never had the 
heart to put things right since. After a meal consisting of 
very bad salt pork, most of which was melted, and which he 
and his wife dipped up with corn bread, coffee without milk 
and sweetened with syrup, we went off to a large field 
near the house, which was very undulating and contained a 
number of small marshes ; and here we found the snipe as 
plentiful as he said, every hollow containing twenty or thirty, 
and they were so tame that they w r ould fly from one hollow to 
the next and then back again, so that we soon had a large bag, 
and sent Billy back to get a lot of them ready for supper, not 



188 DELICACY MISPLACED. 

caring for any more of the liquid pork. This meal was a great 
improvement on our dinner, and I think we must have eaten 
a dozen snipe apiece, after which we had a long discussion on 
the war, and on the part our host had played in it, where he 
seemed to have done wonders for an ungrateful country, and 
then we turned in — sleeping in our own blankets on the floor. 

The next day was a repetition of the preceding one, the snipe 
being equally plentiful and equally tame, and our bag was a 
very large one. We had another meal of snipe and then 
saddled our horses to return to camp, telling Billy to remain 
behind, and see if he could, in a delicate way, and without 
hurting his feelings, induce our host to take something for the 
corn our horses had eaten. We said good-bye and rode off, but 
bad not gone far when we heard Billy calling after us, and 
saw him coming as fast as he could shuffle (for his wounds, 
received during the war, prevented his running) , and on coming 
up, we found that when he offered to pay for the corn our 
host presented a long bill of which I forget the amount, but 
I know that ten dollars (£2) which we had given Billy was 
not nearly enough to settle it, so that our delicacy had been 
wasted. 

We were very much annoyed by the semi-wild hogs, 
which then ranged about the country in immense numbers, 
as they would come into camp and eat up the corn meant 
for our horses, driving them away for it. To be even with 
them we shot a fat one now and then and put him through 
the sausage-machine. Of course all these hogs belonged to 
some one, but they were so numerous and worth so little, 
that all travellers acted as we did ; indeed, most men passing- 
through the country seemed to think nothing of killing a 



WILD BULLS. 189 

" beef" when they wanted meat, and when we went to a 
settler who owned several thousand head of cattle and asked 
if we might kill an old bull now and then for our dogs, he 
said we were the first men who had ever come to ask leave, 
everyone killing what he thought proper. Some of the bulls 
are very dangerous to a man on foot at certain seasons of 
the year, and no Texan will go among them unless he is 
mounted. 

F was stalking some fine turkeys one day, when he 

heard a noise behind him, and found a bull working himself 
up for a charge, pawing the ground and lashing his sides with 
his tail, and he had to shoot the bull instead of the turkeys. 
I was once charged by one — a white one, I remember; he came 
straight at me when I was snipe-shooting, and I had to kill 
him with snipe shot, firing both barrels at once, and making a 
hole in his forehead into which I could have put three fingers ; 
he fell so close to me that he threw the mud all over me, 
and I had to jump back to avoid being knocked down. 

Having so many dogs in camp, we could consume a great 
deal of meat, and very little was wasted. The cattle were 
small, and one lasted us only about three days. The Texans 
kept a great number of large dogs, of no particular breed, 
using them for holding their hogs by the ear while they were 
either branded or killed, and these being very fierce caused us 
a great deal of trouble, fighting with our pointers and setters 
and laming them. To prevent this we bought a large dog, 
part bull, as a sort of guardian for the others. He rejoiced 
in the name of " Booze," so christened by his late master 
Billy Breeze, of whom we bought him. This dog was the best 
figjiter I ever saw, as he would face any number of other 



190 OUR DOG BOOZE. 

dogs, and behaved in snch a dignified way until he was 
attacked, that they as a rule left him alone and went away. 
When a number of big dogs rushed out at him from a house 
we happened to be passing, he would sit down in the middle 
of the road and look straight before him, allowing them to 
come up all round him, and never moving, and their pace 
would usually get perceptibly slower as they got near him, 
and they were very often satisfied with a look at about 
three feet distance ; but if they touched him there was a 
sudden transformation scene : the nearest dog was seized 
and shaken like a rat, no regard being paid to the others, 
w T ho were probably biting him behind meanwhile ; then 
another was treated in the same way, and then another, when 
they generally turned tail and fled. However much he was 
hurt himself he never uttered a sound or seemed to care 
anything about it. Booze was a splendid dog for hogs, 
holding the largest with ease, and by keeping always close 
alongside the hog he avoided his tusks. It was so much 
trouble to get him off when he once had hold, that we used to 
beat him when he went after bogs, on which he became so 
crafty that he would drive one into a stream or pond, where 
we could not follow him, and there he would hold the hog's 
head under water until he had drowned him. He would throw 
the largest bull in a moment, catching him by the nose, and 

an Irish water-spaniel, which F had brought from England, 

used to assist him by holding on to the tail, and this he would 
do so firmly, that I have seen him dragged fifty or sixty yards 
over the prairie before he would let go his hold. 

While at Clear Creek we had an invitation from a Captain 
Duncan, who lived on Caney Creek, which runs into the 



PKEJUDICE AGAINST WILD DUCKS. 191 

Brazos, to pay him a visit; he had been very rich before the 
war, having owned some four hundred slaves, a racing- 
establishment, and a fine house in New Orleans. When his 
negroes were freed and left him, he had no money to work his 
plantation, and had, like most Southern planters, always lived 
beyond his income, so that now if a Northern man had not 
taken part of his ground at a low rent, he would have starved, 
as there was no sale for his land. 

On the way to his house, we came to a cabin with a lake in 
front of it, and this was full of wildfowl of many kinds, which, 
as they were swimming about a few yards from the house, we 
supposed had been raised by the settler ; but, on asking him if 
this was so, he told us that they were wild, but as they were 
not fit to eat he never fired at them. Not agreeing with him, 
we dismounted and had a splendid afternoon's sport ; the only 
drawback was our having to retrieve our own ducks, as we had 
not brought a dog with us. We found the same prejudice every- 
where among the uneducated Texans against eating wild ducks, 
though of course they were as good there as anywhere else. 
We took those we had shot to Captain Duncan's and found 
them capital. His plantation was a melancholy sight, the two 
negro villages were falling into ruins, as also were the racing- 
stables, and the Captain and his son seemed to have lost all 
spirit, wandering about disconsolately, and doing nothing but 
eat and sleep. Miss Duncan was charming, and had all the 
spirit left in the family, but she could not induce her father 
and brother to exert themselves, though she tried hard to 
do so. 

On returning to Clear Lake we determined to start for San 
Antonio as soon as we could find another team of mules, those 



192 A TEXAN BALL. 

we had being too small for our load. Hearing of some that 
were to be sold near ns we attended the sale, and I should 
have bought them, if the neighbour of the man selling them, 
finding that I was a mason, had not warned us — merely 
saying " Don't ;" so we didn't. He turned out to be a good 
sort of fellow, and invited us to a grand dance, to be given at 
his house in honour of his son's wedding, so we went. It 
was an extraordinary affair in every way, the dancing being 
quite unlike anything in civilization, and every man had at 
least one revolver buckled round his waist under his coat or 
in a pistol-pocket behind. We left early, but we heard that 
later in the evening there were several little troubles among 
the guests, whiskey being very plentiful, and partaken of by 
both the gentlemen and their fair partners. 

As good mules were very scarce, it was arranged that I 
should go to Galveston and buy some, as we had seen a great 
many good ones in the streets while there. Accordingly I 
took the railway to Houston, and after I had tried to find 
some there and failed, I went on to Galveston and put up 
once more at the Palmetto House. As I found it very difficult 
to get any here also, I at last, in desperation, stopped every 
dray in which I saw a good mule, and so secured a fine team 
of four. These I put into the train and took them to camp, 
and very soon after my return we made a start for San 
Antonio, travelling slowly so as to keep our animals in good 
condition for their long journey. 

I have said nothing of the fishing in Texas, there being none 
worth mentioning; the principal fish is the "cat-fish/' a 
miserable bony monster, only eatable when made into " fish 
chowder," a sort of stew compounded of fish, with all the bones 



FISHING IN TEXAS. 193 

removed, potatoes, pepper, and salt, which when one was hungry 
and when eaten hot, on a cold day was not bad. At Galveston 
you get bine fish, which are very good, and the finest prawns 
I ever saw. There are besides fairly good and very cheap 
oysters in enormous shells, costing one dollar a barrel, the 
barrel meant being the one used for flour, holding two hundred 
pounds. 



194 SAN ANTONIO IN 1868. 



CHAPTER XV. 

San Antonio and Texas in 1868. — Horse-stealing. Its punishment. — 
Shoeing and breaking wild ponies. Negroes the best breakers. — 
Mexicans' and their mode of life. — Part with Billy Breeze, — Move to 
Fredericksburg. — Too hot for the dogs. Death of one. — Trying the 
men's courage. — Halliday, his history. — A real frontiersman. He 

declines to go with us. — H has an adventure while on guard. — Fort 

Mason. — Indians catch and torture a man. — Big-foot Wallace. Refuses 
to go with us. — Leave Fort Mason. — Fight between horses. — A 
refractory mule. His cure. — An over-confident major. — Start for Fort 
Belknap. — A plundered waggon. — I meet with Indians. I am pursued. 
Shoot an Indian's horse and escape. — Difficult country. 

San Antonio in 1868 was a very interesting town, still very 
Mexican in appearance, having two fine plazas, which on 
market days were full of Mexicans in their picturesque dress. 
At the stalls you could get a good dinner of " Chile con 
carne," frijoles, and tortillas, cooked on a brazier, though you 
could not always be sure what the meat you were eating was, 
Mexicans not being very particular. 

From the Gulf to this point Texas is very level, but from 
here the country rises, and the scenery improves, till you pass 



PUNISHMENT FOR HORSE-STEALING. 195 

Fort Mason, one hundred and twenty miles north of the town, 

where the prairie begins. This was the great place for buying 

ponies, many men owning hundreds of them, which ranged 

over an immense extent of country, and sometimes took weeks 

to find. As it would be very easy to steal any number of 

these, it had been made a hanging offence, and any man caught 

stealing a horse was lynched at once, the usual way being to 

make one of the animals he had stolen the executioner. The 

horse-thief was put on one of the ponies, with his hands tied 

behind him, a rope was fastened round his neck and the other 

end tied to the bough of a tree over his head, it being then 

merely a question of time as to when the pony would move off 

to feed and leave the man hanging. Since this became the 

unwritten law of the land, horse-stealing has gone out of 

fashion. We remained several weeks in San Antonio, getting 

supplies, having our animals shod, and allowing them to 

recruit before starting on our seven hundred miles journey to 

Denver. 

We had here an opportunity of seeing how they managed to 

shoe the wild ponies which were always being brought in. 

This was done by pushing them into a strong frame, just wide 

enough to hold them 5 where they had bands passed round them, 

and were then lifted off their feet, rendering them quite 

helpless. "Henry" was shod in this way, the country north 

of the town being too rocky to pass through with unshod 

horses. We saw here, too, some wild-horse breaking, the best 

riders being negroes. Sometimes the bucking would go on for 

half an hour or more, the rider bleeding at the nose and mouth 

when it was over; and we were told that very few men can 

break wild horses for more than two years, and they then are 

c2 



196 BILLY BREEZE LEAVES US. 

wrecks for life, and a good many are killed or maimed by horses 
falling on them. 

Having a good deal of time on our hands, we went about 
among the Mexicans observing their way of living, and found 
that, though opposed to the use of water for any purpose, they 
were as polite as Spaniards, though it did not mean much more 
than it does in Spain, most of them being ready to knife you 
for a very small sum. 

Before leaving San Antonio we were very reluctantly 
compelled to send Billy Breeze back to St. Joe. He found 
that his wounds prevented his riding, and he could not possibly 
do the seven hundred miles on foot. We were all of us very 
sorry to see him go, as, when anywhere away from whiskey, a 
better man we never had. He returned by stage to the 
end of the railway at Richmond, and from there went back as 
we had come. 

Having driven round and collected our numerous purchases, 
we left San Antonio about the end of March; three days 
taking us to Fredericksburg, a German settlement forty-five 
miles further north. This we found to be like most of their 
settlements — very clean and well ordered. The houses were 
large and comfortable and the land well cultivated and fenced. 
The country we passed through was almost entirely covered 
with low brush, in which were more quail than we had ever 
seen before. We put them up continually on the sandy track 
which did duty for a road, and if it had been the shooting 
season we could have had splendid sport. The heat was 
already so great that, combined with the dust, it was too much 
for our dogs, who were utterly unable to travel, and we had 
to give several of them away to save their lives. One of our grey- 



TRYING THE MEN'S COURAGE. 197 

hounds came to a very sad end. One day, as he seemed to be 
suffering from the heat, we tied him under the waggon, as it was 
a shady place, and soon after doing so we rode ahead for some 
purpose, supposing that the men would keep an eye on him, as 
there were three of them behind the waggon leading horses, 
and when we rejoined the party we found the poor dog dead 
and stiff, having evidently been dragged for some distance by 
the neck. 

The next settlement we reached was a very small one on the 
Jan Jaba River, where we were told that there was a first- 
rate man to take as guide, as we had hitherto failed to find 
one, everyone objecting to go across the plains through the 
Comanche Indian country with so small a party. This man was 
away when we arrived, hunting for strayed horses, so we camped 
there to wait for him. 

While there F and I rode to a house some way up the 

river, to try and buy some milk and butter, and on our way 
back, hearing some of our men bathing in the river, we thought 
we would try their courage, so we galloped through the bushes 
giving the Comanche war-whoop. On emerging on the bank, 
we could see five or six naked figures going for cover at a 
great rate, and I cannot say that they exactly blessed us when 
they saw who we were. Hearing that John, the cook, was the 
only man in camp, we went into that in the same way and 
very nearly got shot, finding John under the waggon with a 
repeating rifle in his hands, aiming in our direction, and only 
just seeing who we were in time to avoid firing. 

I have forgotten to mention that we had picked up another 
man in San Antonio, whose name was Halliday. He had been 
a miner in Montana, where he had made about J2000 ; with 



198 A REAL FRONTIERSMAN. 

this he and a companion had fitted ont a slaver for the West 
Coast of Africa, where he had been seized by a British cruiser, 
his vessel being condemned and he and his crew turned 
adrift. He had worked his way back to New Orleans, and 
from there to San Antonio, where we engaged him to look 
after the horses. He was one of those men who were always 
saying what they would do if we met any Indians, having got 
used to them, as he said, in Montana. How he really behaved 
will be seen later on. 

On the morning after our arrival we came out of the tent to 
find, leaning on his rifle by the camp fire, which he had made 
up, the best-looking specimen of a frontiersman I had yet seen. 
He stood over six feet high in his moccasins, and was dressed 
in a buckskin suit and a fur cap. His face was handsome and 
he had a short beard. On seeing us he came forward, and 
said that he had heard that we wanted a guide, and knowing 
the country as far as Denver, he had come to offer himself in 
that capacity. He seemed just the man we wanted, and had 
lived most of his life on the frontier, and had fought the 
Comanches and Kiowas. He had lately returned from a hunt 
after strayed horses, during which he had been driven into 
cover by a small party of Indians, having to remain there over 
twenty-four hours, when he managed to crawl through them at 
night. These Southern Indians will never dismount to pursue 
a man, having been brought up to consider their horses as 
part of themselves, and always running away when he is shot. 
We had nearly concluded our bargain with this man, when he 
suddenly asked where the rest of the party was, and on hearing 
that it was composed of the seven whom he saw, he declined 
at once to go, saying that no smaller party than fifty men 



H HAS AN ADVENTURE. 199 

could hope to get through. He remained with us all day, but 
would not be tempted, so we made up our minds to go on 
alone, though none of us knew one yard of the country. He 
told us that we might expect to see Indians any day, as they 
frequently came as far south as this, and that a party had 
been killed near Fort Mason a few days before. This turned 
out to be only partially true. 

We left the Jan Jaba the next morning, travelling over a 
horribly rocky country and only making about sixteen miles. 
That night we arranged the guards, each of us taking two 
hours, and being seven we got two nights off in the week. 
The first man went on at eight and the last came off at six, the 
first and last having an easy time of it, as we often did not 
turn in till nine and were up by five. 

The second night H had an adventure during his guard. 

He was going round to see whether all the horses were right, 
when he suddenly fell on something which seemed to heave up, 
H being thrown up in the air and coming down with con- 
siderable force ; he then found that he had walked on to one of 
his horses when asleep, and it had suddenly jumped up, making 
him think there had been an earthquake. We found that some- 
times the last man would have what seemed an extraordinary 
long two-hours' watch, it being so long before daylight appeared, 
and the sun seemed to rise later every morning ; and this, we> 
discovered, was owing to one of the men having always put on 
the hands of the watch, which he was given when going on 
guard, to shorten his own two hours. 

As we got near Fort Mason the character of the country 
changed, the dense brush giving way to mesquit grass with 
numbers of small thorny mesquit trees scattered about it. This 



200 INDIANS TORTURE A MAN. 

grass is dry-looking stuff — very short and curly , but it is wonder- 
fully fattening for cattle and horses ; and we noticed one very 
curious thing with regard to it, which was that if any of our 
animals were picketed so as to be able to reach the sandy road 
we were travelling on, they would always feed on the dusty grass 
beside it and on the little ridges between the tracks. Another 
thing we noticed was that whereas up to this time we had 
noticed no rattlesnakes, we now found a great many of them, 
lying as a rule under the mesquit bushes. This was the only 
wood we could get, unless we came to some small river, where 
there were other varieties, and fortunately it would burn equally 
well whether green or dry. 

On reaching Fort Mason we camped close to the officers' 
quarters, and went to call on Captain Thomson, who was in 
command, and were very hospitably welcomed. We found 
that the news we had heard of the Comanches being in the 
neighbourhood was correct, some men having come in a few 
days before, who had reported that when about a day's 
journey from the post, bringing two cart-loads of supplies for 
the sutler, they had been set upon by Indians and one of their 
number captured, the remainder of them having managed to 
escape into some bushes which happened to be near, and that 
while lying there they had heard the agonized shrieks of their 
companion, whom they afterwards found had been almost 
entirely flayed alive. This story Captain Thomson confirmed, 
as he had lately returned from the scene of the fight, where 
he had found and buried the body of the man referred to. 

We heard here of a celebrated guide called " Big-foot 
Wallace/' but on going to see him we found that he also 
would not risk himself with so small a party. This man had 



HORSE-FIGHTING. 201 

lived on the frontier serving as guide to the troops, and it was 
said that he could smell an Indian at a distance of several 
miles, but we had no opportunity of proving this. There was 
no guide to be had here, so we determined to go on without 
one, trusting to a very bad map and our compasses ; so we left 
Fort Mason on the third day, the country gradually changing 
to open prairie, with clumps of trees and brush here and 
there — capital ground for hunting had the season not been 
over. 

At one of our midday halts we had a good deal of fun — 

matching H 's horse called the " Rig " to fight the stallion 

of a small band of semi-wild horses, which were branded, but 
were still so wild that they had to be lassoed when required. 
We discovered them feeding about half a mile from our camp, 
and the "Rig-" noticing them also, galloped to the end of 
his rope and pulled up the picket-pin, when he joined the band 
and began making friends. The stallion, resenting the intrusion 
of a stranger, attacked him at once, and at it they went, 
rearing up and seizing one another with their teeth, and then 
whirling round and kicking at one another, and this went on 
for fully twenty minutes, and they were so earnestly engaged 
that we walked up close to them without the stallions taking 

any notice of us. By the end of this time, H 's horse, 

finding that he was getting the worst of it, as the other was 
a much more powerful animal, returned to camp looking very 
crestfallen, but not otherwise much the worse for the fight, his 
antagonist having no shoes on. 

Not wishing to kill game we lived now almost entirely on 
stray cattle, which had escaped from the large herds which were 
driven every spring over our present route to California. 



202 A EEFRACTORY MULE : 

Some of them had been deserted as being too lame to go any 
further, and having led a solitary life for some months many 

of them were as wild as buffalo and much more fierce. F 

had a very close shave from one which charged him furiously 
as he was going through some bushes, though a dose of small 
shot cooled his ardour very much. 

When buying our new team of mules we had retained our 
small pair in case of a breakdown, or of very bad going, when 
we could put them in front ; and one of these, when he found 
he was being worked again after a long rest, hit upon a plan 
for avoiding this. When anyone of us went for him in the 
morning, and was pulling up the picket -pin and wiping the 
mud off it, he would walk up and look on, as if waiting to be 
led to camp ; but as you coiled up the rope he would suddenly 
start off at a gallop, pulling the rope out of your hands, and it 
was of no use to hold on, as he would then drag you along the 
ground, tearing your hands and clothes. When this had 

happened several times, and F and I and the men had 

suffered in consequence, H , after laughing at us for our 

clumsiness, said that he would show us how it should be done, 
so he started for the mule the following morning, all of us 
going with him to see the fun. He began by petting the 
mule a good deal and giving him some sugar, it being, he 
assured us, a great thing to give the animal confidence in you ; 
and he then proceeded to lead him to the pin, which he pulled 
up, and was winding up the rope, when away went the mule, 

and in a few seconds away went H also, bounding over the 

ground, his braces breaking and most of his clothes coming or 
being torn off. We told him that we did not notice much 
difference in the result of his system and ours, and his required 



HIS CURE. 203 

a new suit of clothes each time, whereas ours did not. His 
only answer was a request for leave to shoot the mule, but he was 
too useful, so at last we hit upon a plan which cured him at 
once. Tying his rope to the stem of a strong mesquit bush, 
which we cut down on purpose, we pretended to drive in the 
pin as usual, and in the morning, on seeing it pulled up, off 
went the mule, the rope throwing him over backwards with 
almost force enough to break his neck ; indeed for some minutes 
we thought it had, but he eventually got up and was cured of 
that trick for good. 

One morning when F , H , and I were riding ahead 

of the waggon, we came on a party of soldiers out on a 
scout, and the lieutenant in command said that although he 
did not know any of us, he did know the horse I was riding, 
it being the Sheridan horse, and that he had been one of 
Sheridan's four aides-de-camp who had had to follow him 
those twenty miles, all four having been left far behind. He 
said that he was out scouting from a post called " Buffalo 
Spring/'' which was then in course of erection, and which was 
commanded by a Major Davis, an Englishman by birth, and 
was now on his way back, so we joined him and reached the 
post that afternoon. The major received us most hospitably, 
letting his smith shoe our horses and repair the waggon, the 
awful country we had come over having broken a good many 
bolts. 

He told us that as yet they had seen no Indians, and thought 
that the reports they had heard of them had been very much 
exaggerated. We told him of the man who had been skinned 
near Fort Mason ; but this did not convince him that there was 
much danger, as there were always one or more small bands of 



204 A PLUNDERED WAGGON. 

Indians in the country horse -stealing. He said that he always 
had mounted troopers round the horse band, and yet some 
months afterwards we heard that the Comanches had run off 
every head from the post without losing a man, and not a 
single animal was recovered. 

From Buffalo Springs our course was almost due north, our 
next resting-place being Fort Belknap, a distance of about a 
hundred and forty miles. We got all the directions we could 
from the guides attached to the post, not one of them 
thinking we should get through • and they told us to look out 
for wood roads, which, as Belknap was an old post and wood 
was scarce near it, extended for thirty miles or more round it. 
We should, they said, pass the deserted posts — u Phantom 
Hill " and " Camp Cooper " — which would serve to show us 
that we were in the right direction. 

Nothing of any consequence happened for some days ; the 
country was alternately prairie and wooded, and game was fairly 
plentiful, and we were obliged to kill a few deer for food, as 
we did not find any cattle. About the fifth day we came across 
a plundered waggon and broken boxes lying round it ; but there 
were no signs of a struggle having taken place, so we supposed 
that the men must have escaped. There had been rain lately, 
consequently all tracks had been washed out, so there was no 
way of telling how long ago it had happened. In one of the 
boxes we found some corn meal and part of a jar of syrup, 
which the Indians had probably left fearing poison, as it was a 
common thing in those days to poison any food which had to be 
abandoned. We tried them, and as they seemed all right we 
appropriated them. 

The same evening we reached an abandoned post, which, 



PURSUED BY INDIANS. 205 

from its position under a high cliff, we concluded was Phantom 
Hill, as it had a very ghostly appearance, especially at night. 
It was a beautiful moonlight night, and everywhere else it was 
almost as light as day, but here the cliff threw a dark shadow 
over the post, which, with its empty door and window-frames 
and its fallen-in roof, looked as if it might well be the abode of 
ghosts. A branch of the Brazos River ran close to it, and here 
we camped, thinking that we were near enough now to begin 
the hunt for the wood roads running into Belknap and intending 
to remain some days and do so. 

On the morning after our arrival, F , H , and I rode 

off in different directions, I going north-east, following for 
some miles the Brazos River. For several hours I saw nothing 
but some turkeys and antelope, and had eaten my dinner and 
started again, riding along a low bluff, about two hundred 
yards from the river, when I heard a shout, and looking into 
the bottom I saw a party of seven Indians, evidently camped 
for a meal on the bank, as their horses were tied near them. 
From the rush which they made to their horses I knew that they 
would very soon be after me, and that I had no time to lose if 
I wished to save my hair. I was riding a very slow grey pony, 
but I put the spurs into him and got him along at a pace 
which he had never before equalled, I am sure, and was about 
half a mile from the bluff, when I saw the Indians ride up on 
to it. There was no cover of any kind to hide me, so they 
were after me at once, urging their horses along with yells and 
blows. The ground was very rough, and at any other time I 
should have hesitated to go over it at a trot, but I clattered 
over it now at full speed, the stones flying in all directions ; but 
I soon found that it was of no use trying to ride away from 



206 shoot an Indian's horse and escape. 

them — their horses being bigger and better than mine, so on 
coming to a large rock I jumped off and dropped behind it, 
on which they stopped, being now about a hundred and fifty 
yards from me. One of them was ahead of the others, and 
stood facing me on a tall bay horse, so I fired at his chest, 
using a twelve-bore double rifle and a Metford shell. I 
suppose the horse must have raised his head for, as I ascer- 
tained afterwards, I hit him in the neck, making a huge hole 
in it, on which he reared and fell sideways on his rider, and as 
he fell I fired again at a second man, but missed him, the 
whole of them making off at once, not even stopping to help 
the man whose horse lay on him, and who was some moments 
in extricating himself. I could very easily have shot him in 
the back as he limped off, but it seemed to be so like murder 
that I could not do it, so let him go, merely shouting to hurry 
him a little. I at once started for camp, as there might be 
more Indians in the neighbourhood, and found all safe on 

my arrival. F had come in, having found no road but 

plenty of fresh Indian sign ; and H , about whom we began 

to be anxious, returned late — having lost his way, but happening 
to strike the river had followed it to camp. 

As this country was too full of Indians we started the next 
morning, the road consisting of a mass of stones, and came to a 
second deserted post, not more than two miles from the other ; 
and this we supposed was Camp Cooper, so that we were going 
right so far. We ought to have found buffalo here, but they 
seemed to have been all driven away, which was a bad sign ; 
deer, too, were very scarce, so that we were short of meat and 
had to kill quail for food. 

We came one evening to a small muddy stream, which we 




Page 206. — I fired at his chest. 



DIFFICULT COUNTRY. 209 

hesitated about crossing as it was late and the mules were tired, 
so we camped on the near side. During the night a storm 
came up and the heavy rain lasted till morning, by which time 
the stream was impassable, keeping us there for three days, and 
giving us a good lesson — always to cross a stream and camp on 
the further side when arriving on the banks of one at night, as 
the storms are so violent and sudden in the south, which 
cause the streams to swell very rapidly. From this point we 
had a very unpleasant time of it, there seeming to be no end to 
the streams, almost all having muddy bottoms and requiring 
bridges to be made over them ; and in a distance of forty 
miles we must have made quite seventy of these, sometimes 
not advancing a mile in twenty-four hours, and in one case 
being four days in crossing one stream. This one had banks 
about thirty feet high and a very bad crossing, and we had to 
cut down about sixty trees to make the bridge with. When 
this was ready, and a road, though a very steep one, cut down to 
it, we unloaded the waggon, took off the leading mules and 
led them across so as to have them ready to pull it up the 
opposite side ; then we tied ropes to the back of the waggon 
and passed them round trees, two men holding on to each, 
chained both hind wheels, and then the driver went forward 
riding the near mule. For some yards all went well, when 
suddenly both ropes broke at the same moment, and away went 
the whole thing. We were afraid to look over and see what 
had happened, till a shout came from below, when we found 
that the driver, hearing the ropes snap, had at once put in the 
spurs, and had landed his mules on the bridge in two desperate 
leaps, both of them coming down, but luckily there was no 
damage done to either mules or waggon. 



210 MOSQUITOES. 

The mosquitoes were a great nuisance while we were con- 
structing these bridges, as they were in millions, making life a 
burden, and driving our horses and mules nearly mad. We often 
said we would never return to Texas ; and yet we had no sooner 
left it than we wanted to go back, as there was so much to 
make up for the few drawbacks. After this the country became 
more open and the streams fewer, water being sometimes hard 
to find ; but quite by chance we hit on a wood road which took 
us into Fort Belknap. 



FORT BELKNAP. 211 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Fort Belknap. — Buffalo dance by Tonkaways. — A-sa-ha-be. We agree to 
bis coming with us. His suspicious conduct. He leaves us by nigbt. — 
We turn back. — Appearance of Indians. — A-sa-ba-be comes to propose 
terms. Tbey are rejected. — Tbe Comancbes attack us. — We still move 
on. — We kill and scalp an Indian. — A reinforcement of Indians. — Down- 
fall of A-sa-ba-be. — Arrival of three Caddo Indian scouts. We send 
one of tbem for belp. He is pursued, but escapes. — Our casualties. — 
Halliday's courage. — Arrival of troops. — We reacb Fort Arbuckle. 

At Fort Belknap we found four companies of cavalry, under 
the command of General Sturgess ; and here we remained 
several days, and were allowed to replenish our stores from 
the commissariat. At the Post were a number of Tonkaway 
Indians, some of them being employed as scouts ; they were 
the remnant of a tribe which had been very much thinned by 
small-pox, and the day after our arrival they sent us an invi- 
tation to a buffalo dance, which is a ceremony to insure success 
in hunting. On going to their camp we found about sixty 
Indians collected, besides twice that number of women and 
children, and the festivities commenced with a talk, in which 

they said they had heard that we came from the land of the 

p2 



212 BUFFALO DANCE BY TONKAWAYS. 

" Great White Queen/' and that we were very welcome to their 
country, all in it being at our service, and then hinting that 
anything coming from us would be very much valued : on 
which we said a few words through an interpreter of the 
pleasure it gave us to see a tribe of which we had heard so 
much; that we thanked them for their welcome, and hoped 
they would accept some tobacco and beads, which we handed 
round. 

After this the dance began — two old Indians playing on 
the (i torn torn," and chanting a very hideous accompaniment. 
The men and women danced together — a thing I had never 
seen before among Indians — forming a circle, and going 
through some shuffling steps, repeating a prayer to the Great 
Spirit for success in their next hunt, and for protection against 
their enemies the Comanches. This was kept up for about 
an hour, some sitting down and others taking their places, 
even the elder children joining in. We were asked to take 
part in the dance, but the partners were not sufficiently tempt- 
ing, so we contented ourselves with looking on. One old 
fellow whom I sat near had a necklace made of the finger- 
and toe-joints of a Comanche he had killed some years before; 
and he was evidently very proud of it, refusing to sell it to 
me, though I offered what to him was a long price. Killing 
a Comanche seemed a very rare event, for they had divided 
the man amongst them — one having the scalp, another the 
ears, which he had dried and hung round his neck. 

These Indians never trust themselves far from a fort, except 
when acting as scouts, dreading the Comanches and being- 
despised by them. We tried to get one of them to act as our 
guide, but no offer would tempt them when they heard that we 



A-SA-HA-BE. 213 

were only seven in number. One of the soldiers told us that 
there was a Comanche chief at the Post who might go with 
us. He had, it seemed, quarrelled with his brother " Queen- 
a-ha-be/' the war chief of the Comanches, and had to leave 
the tribe in consequence. We sent for him, and found him 
to be an immense man, standing six feet four and broad in 
proportion, with a very ill-tempered and treacherous face, the 
hair growing close down to the eyebrows. He seemed very 
willing to go ; saying that he knew the country well nearly to 
Denver, and should we meet any of his tribe he thought that 
he could protect us from them, and that he would fight for 
us if necessary. It was at last agreed that we should take 
him, and he was to receive on our getting through safely two 
horses, a rifle and ammunition for it, a revolver, and twenty- 
five dollars in money. At first he wished payment in advance ; 
but this we positively refused, giving him a pair of blankets 
and some ammunition only. We left Belknap on the eighth 
day, and our next point was old Fort Cobb — a deserted post, 
about a hundred and forty miles further on. 

As we had now one more man it made the guards at night 
much easier, each of us getting three clear nights in bed. It 
took some time to make A-sa-ha-be understand how long he 
was to remain on guard ; but he soon got into it, and used to 
measure his two hours pretty correctly. We had been out 
about six days when one of the men told us that he had gone 
out of the tent during A-sa-ha-be's guard, and had found him 
absent, so we spoke to him about it, when he replied that 
having seen some suspicious sign that day, he had gone during 
his guard to see what it meant. Now this was highly impro- 
bable; for as the nights were very dark just then, he could 



214 TREACHEROUS BEHAVIOUR OF A-SA-HA-BE. 

not possibly follow a trail, nor would he have had time to. go 
very far during his two-hour watch. So we told him that we 
allowed no one to leave the camp during the night, and that 
he must do his scouting in the daytime, when one of us would 
go with him. 

"We had mistrusted him from the first, and now were almost 
sure that he meant to betray us ; but it was nearly impossible 
to get proof, or we would have shot him at once. As he only 
knew a few words of English, it was difficult to explain any- 
thing to him, the only other means being by signs, which he 
was wonderfully quick at understanding. 

Things went smoothly for two days, when one night F , 

who was on guard, woke me to say that A-sa-ha-be had 
just left the waggon, under which he slept, and had gone 
towards his horse. 

Getting my rifle, F ■ and I followed him very cautiously, 

keeping under the shelter of some bushes which grew round 
camp, and we saw him go to his horse, put on the saddle, and 
prepare to mount. We then ran forward and called to him to 
stop, on which he sprang on the horse and rode off at full 
speed. Being convinced then that he meant treachery, we both 
fired at him; but the night was dark, and we missed him. The 
shots roused the men, and we held a consultation as to the 
best thing to do. To turn back was what we thought wisest ; 
but this neither of us proposed, hoping that some other plan 
might be devised. If we had been travelling with pack-animals 
we could have pushed on quickly, having probably a good 
many hours'' start ; but with a waggon this was of no use — four 
miles an hour being as much as we could manage. In any 
case we had to move at once to a better position, as our present 



APPEARANCE OF INDIANS. 215 

camp was on a flat plain covered with bushes, affording capital 
cover to Indians creeping up to fire at us ; so we hitched up at 
once and moved on to a ridge, about a mile further on, where 
we remained till morning, carrying up water in every vessel 
that would hold it, in case the Indians should come sooner 
than we expected. 

Morning came, and no sign of the Indians; so we had 
another talk, and all the men being for an immediate return 
to Fort Arbuckle, we were at last compelled to agree to it ; so 
we put the mules in and started about eight o'clock. We cal- 
culated that we were about seventy-five miles from the Post, 
and that, unless hindered by the Comanches, we could do it in 
two days and. a half, throwing away some of our load if neces- 
sary. About ten o'clock F , who was acting rear-guard, 

called to us that they were coming ; and on looking back we 
saw about forty Indians on some high ground to our right. 
We kept on as fast as we could go, pulling up when on a bare 
hill a short distance further on, as it was a good place for a 
fight if we were to have one. We had nine Winchester repeat- 
ing-rifles with us and three thousand rounds of ammunition 
for them, having bought five hundred rounds per man in case 
we had any fighting ; then we had four double rifles and 
several hundred rounds of ammunition for them ; and, lastly, 
we had a double eight-bore duck-gun, which loaded with about 
two ounces of buckshot in each barrel would be grand at close 
quarters. 

The Indians galloped up to within two hundred yards of us, 
when we waved them back, A-sa-ha-be advancing alone, with 
a branch in his hand as a flag of truce. On his arrival at the 
waggon he dismounted and calmly seated himself, made signs 



216 A-SA-HA-BE PROPOSES TERMS. 

that we should do the same quite with the air of a superior 
addressing his inferiors. We ; however, sat down, A-sa-ha-be 
beginning the talk by saying that he had not betrayed us, but 
that finding signs of a party of his tribe being near us, he had 
ridden away in the night to find out their intentions and to do 
the best he could for us, and this he was still willing to do, in 
spite of our having fired at him. He said that he had found 
about forty of his tribe camped a few miles away, and that he 
had made the best possible terms for us, which were as fol- 
lows : — That we should give up our waggon and outfit, all 
horses but one apiece, and that then we should be given a rifle 
to kill game with, and be allowed to return to Fort Arbuckle, 
or go in any direction we wished. Now there was not the 
smallest doubt that if we did as he wished we should all be 
dead men within the hour, as Indians never spare anyone who 
is in their power, as they thought we were ; so we replied at 
once that we should give up nothing, but that as the country 
we were in belonged to his tribe, we were willing to purchase 
permission to pass through it at a moderate price. A-sa-ha-be 
answered that the terms he had mentioned were the only ones 
which would be accepted, and put on a very insolent air as he 
said it ; so we told him we would give him two minutes to leave 
our camp, and that if he was not gone by that time we would 
shoot him, and would not miss him a second time, and that if 
his tribe wanted our outfit, they must come and take it, but 
that so long as we had a cartridge left they should have 
nothing. He jumped up in a furious rage, waited till we had 
finished speaking, and then mounted and rode off, shaking his 
fist at us ; and we could see that on rejoining his companions 
he was making the most of what we had said, to rouse them, 



THE COMANCHES ATTACK US. 217 

as otherwise forty Indians might hesitate to attack six well- 
armed white men. I am speaking of twenty years ago, when 
a rifle was very seldom seen in an Indian's hands, and when 
the few they had were of a very old pattern, and the supply of 
ammunition for those was scanty. 

In the meantime we started again, throwing out of the 
waggon several sacks of flour to lighten the load, the Indians 
remaining where they were for nearly an hour, two mes- 
sengers being sent away at full speed, we feared for reinforce- 
ments. About one o'clock, when we were thinking of halting 
to rest the animals, the Indians appeared again, coming at a 
gallop and, passing us at a distance of about four hundred 
yards, fired as they passed, and several balls came unpleasantly 
near, one of them going through the side of the waggon. On 
this we gave them three or four volleys from the Winchesters, 
the result being the wounding of a horse, which bolted, and 
was only stopped after going about a mile, when the rider dis- 
mounted and got up behind one of his companions. This 
seemed to show them the range of our rifles and the rapidity 
with which they could be fired (a Winchester rifle firing its 
fourteen cartridges in less than as many seconds if in good 
hands), xnd for some hours they contented themselves with 
keeping us in sight. We drove on till nearly dark, filling 
buckets and kettles at a pond we passed and watering all the 
animals, so that we might camp in the middle of a prairie, 
where there was no cover of any kind to hide a crawling man. 
Here we had supper, and arranged that one half should keep 
guard while the other half slept. 

The Indians let us know that they were near by firing now 
and then, the bullets going far overhead, but they did not try 



218 WE SCALP AN INDIAN. 

to attack us, and at daylight, after a very hasty breakfast, we 
were off again. We Lad a number of creeks to cross that 
day, and always rode ahead to find out whether they were 
lying in wait for us, but saw nothing of the Comanches, 
except in the distance, till we came to a stream having very 

heavy timber and bushes on both banks, when F , H , 

and I rode along, about a hundred yards from the timber, 
going at full speed, and lying, Indian fashion, on the side of 
our horses, having one elbow in a noose round the horse's 
neck and one foot on the saddle, and we had not gone more 
than a few hundred yards when five or six shots were fired at 
us, all of them going wide. We immediately turned and rode 
in for the creek, hearing the Indians making their way through 
the bushes but seeing none of them ; till one, thinking he was 
concealed, came out on the opposite side and ran along in the 
open, loading as he went. We all jumped off and waited till 
he passed an open space, when we fired together, and over he 
went, seeming to die at once. 

We now beckoned to the waggon and got it across, not far 
from where the Indian lay, and on going to see how he had 
been killed, we found that a bullet had passed through the 
shoulder and a no. 12 Metford shell had burst low down in 
his back, making a hole almost as large as the crown of 
a hat, and nearly cutting him in two. We had all said that 
if we shot an Indian and could get at the body we would 
scalp him and think nothing of it ; but when the time came 
to do it, each one tried to get out of it, till the driver of our 
waggon came up and, asking why we made such a fuss about 
such a trifle, took it off at once, removing merely the scalp- 
lock and the skin under it, about the size of, and in the same 
position as, the tonsure of a priest. 



THE INDIANS REINFORCED. 219 

When Indians have plenty of time, they like to take the 
whole skin of the head, beginning behind, skinning the head 
and the whole face, including the ears ; and the scalp when 
thus taken presents a ghastly appearance when stretched. 
Soon after we left the stream we could hear the Indians 
howling over the body of the man we had scalped, and they 
came by a few minutes later, yelling their war-whoop, and 
placing their closed fists against their foreheads and then 
opening and shutting them, which means (i war to the knife/'' 
As they passed we fired a good many shots, and three horses 
went down, their riders getting bad falls, though it was impos- 
sible to tell whether any of them were hit, as when a man has 
fallen and seems hurt, two of them will at once gallop by 
him, one on either side, reaching down and catching a limb, 
when they swing him on to the saddle in front of one of them 
and ride off. 

The scalping of their companion had evidently made them 
frantic, as it is their belief that a scalped warrior has to act as 
servant to the others in the happy hunting-grounds ; and they, 
in consequence, came much nearer, several times gathering as 
if for a rush, and then giving up the idea on our firing a volley 
at them. Towards evening a large party of Indians suddenly 
appeared and joined the others, making their number up to 
about two hundred. They all met and had a short consulta- 
tion, we in the meantime camping, as we were in a capital 
place to receive them — a clump of timber standing on a rise 
about two hundred yards from a stream, and there was no 
other cover near but a few small bushes, which we at once 
cut down. We drove the waggon in among the trees, and all 
set to work to cut down some of the smallest of these to make 
a breastwork. 



220 DOWNFALL OF A-SA-HA-BE. 

Our stopping seemed to disconcert them, as they did not 
care to attack a fortified position ; so they began to taunt us, 
and made insulting gestures, and fired a number of shots, one 
of which killed one of the mules, the poor brute being hit 
through the stomach, so we had to shoot him. We had a very 
quiet night, and were off by daybreak, keeping as much as 
possible in open ground, even when we had to make a detour 
to do so. "We calculated that we must have done nearly half 
the distance, and as yet no one was hurt, our loss being one 
mule ; and as we put a horse in his place, this did not much 
matter. 

That day the Indians were bolder than ever, coming within 
two hundred yards, and losing five horses during the day, 
besides one man, whom we were sure of, as we shot him as he 
ran away when his horse was killed. We had offered a reward 
of fifty dollars to our men if they could shoot A-sa-ha-be ; but 
he would not come within range, galloping by on a fine black 
stallion at a distance of five or six hundred yards. That day, 
however, he suddenly turned his horse, and lying over so that 
we could see only one elbow and a foot, he passed within two 
hundred yards, firing as he did so. We all ran forward as he 
came near, and, kneeling down, gave him a volley, the black 
horse being killed almost instantly, and turning a summer- 
sault, giving his rider so rough a tumble that he lay 
where he fell, and we made a rush for the body. The Indians, 
however, seeing their chief in such danger, closed in from all 
sides ; and as we dared not risk a hand-to-hand fight we had 
to retreat, but we did so firing as we went, and four more 
horses fell, causing great confusion, some of the men whose 
horses were shot crawling away, as they did not dare to rise 



ARRIVAL OF THREE CADDO SCOUTS. 221 

and run. The Indians drew off, and we were left in peace for 
some hours, when about three in the afternoon we saw them 
all galloping to one point, apparently in chase of something ; 
and in a few minutes later we made out, with the glasses, three 
men making straight for us at full speed, closely followed by 
the Comanches. On their reaching us, we found them to be 
three Caddo Indians, speaking English very fairly, and they 
told us that, being on a hunt from Fort Arbuckle and hearing 
the firing, they had come to see what it meant, and finding 
that it was their enemies the Comanches, and knowing from 
our waggon that we must be whites, they had ridden through 
to see if they could help us in any way. We camped at once 
and held a consultation, and it was at length decided that one 
of them should take c( Polly, " and try to get through the 
Comanches and bring us help from Arbuckle. 

The distance was, they thought, eleven miles, and the only 
question was, could the mare do it ? The Caddos were all of 
them small men and very light, but some of the Comanches 
seemed well mounted, though A-sa-ha-be's stallion — the animal 
we most feared — was now dead. We promised a very large 
reward should help arrive in time, and all three of the Caddos 
were willing to go, so we chose the one who seemed the 
lightest. 

He prepared himself by taking off everything but a shirt, a 
breech-clout, and moccasins; and, provided with a raw-hide 
whip and holding a green branch in his right hand, he started, 
riding slowly, so as to give the Comanches time to collect at 
one point. This we saw them doing, thinking, no doubt, that 
he was commissioned to treat for peace. On getting to what 
seemed to us to be about a hundred yards, he threw away the 



222 WE SEND FOIl HELP. 

bough and struck off to the left, and we could see that he had 
passed them ; but so near, that every moment we expected to 
see the mare fall, struck by one of the bullets which were being 
fired at her. A few seconds after this, the Comanches shut 
him out from us, and an anxious time began. Would he 
succeed in distancing them, and could the mare hold out, thin 
as she was, and having had nothing but grass for so long ? 

We hitched up and went on again, all the Indians being out 
of sight, and must have made three miles, when we saw some 
of them coming back, the slow pace at which they came making 
us feel sure that our messenger had got through, and very soon 
they were all collected together, apparently consulting, about 
half a mile from us. We knew that they would now do their 
best to get us, as they could pretty well calculate how long it 
would be before the arrival of the troops ; so we made all 
preparations for a rush, loading every weapon we had and 
laying ammunition handy. 

The country here was alternately wood and small prairies, 
the former being open and not affording much cover, and 
we were passing round one of these small woods when the 
Comanches made a rush at us, coming on in a double line 
and yelling their war-whoop. Our men were excited and fired 
wildly, not a man dropping, till they were within about a 
hundred yards of us, when the horses fell fast and the Indians 
wavered. Our magazines were empty, but just at this moment 
the cook gave them six ounces of buckshot, which, as they 
were pretty close together, told well on the horses, many 
becoming quite unmanageable, and the whole party turned 
and galloped off into the timber, leaving seven horses and two 
men on the ground. As they opened fire upon us from cover, 



OUR CASUALTIES. ZZO 

we turned and drove for some thick bushes on our left, losing 
another mule and two horses before reaching them, one of the 
latter being my bay horse. He was wounded in the side^ and 
breaking the rope with which he was fastened to the waggon, he 
galloped off, falling after going a few hundred yards. 

Our casualties were as follows : — One of the Caddos had a 
groove cut in his left arm by a bullet, and the other was hit 
in the left arm below the elbow, but the arm was not broken. 
One of the men was very slightly wounded in the calf of the 
leg ; another (Brown) got a bullet through the side, six inches 
above the hip, and although we did all we could for him, and 
laid him in the waggon, he died just as we got into Arbuckle, 
and everything in the waggon was saturated with blood. 

F ■ got an arrow in the back, but not making a serious 

wound ; and I got a bullet in the right shoulder, which F 

that evening cut out with a razor, and an arrow under the 
knee. 

But to return : we soon got out of shot of where the Indians 
had posted themselves, and they seemed to have had a lesson 
and left us alone. We now put one of F— — 's ponies and the 
Sheridan horse in harness, and got on slowly, the going being 
very bad. The country, too, began to be more heavily wooded, 
so that it was difficult to keep a straight course. Our two 
Caddos had behaved bravely in the fight, standing well out in 
front, and using their Spencer carbines with great effect, and 
they were now very useful in showing us the road to the fort. 
When within about four miles of it they left, riding to meet 
the soldiers, to show them where we were ; and shortly after- 
wards we decided to camp, so we drove in among some scat- 
tered trees and began to make a barricade, when it suddenly 

Q 



226 halliday's courage. 

occurred to us that we were a man short, Halliday having dis- 
appeared. It seemed impossible that he could have been left 
behind without our knowing it, and we were on the point of 
trying to ride back to the spot where the rush had been made, 
when the cook, who was standing at the back of the waggon, 
beckoned to me, and on going up and looking into the waggon 
I saw a pair of boots, with the soles towards me, standing upon 
their toes— an impossible position for boots which had not 
feet in them ; and the same thought occurring to each of us, 
we suddenly caught hold of a foot each, and pulled Halliday — 
all covered with flour — from under some sacks, bedding, &c, 
jerking him over the tail-board of the waggon and letting 
him fall on the ground. He at once shammed ill, calling us 
inhuman wretches for treating a sick man in that way ; but 
a look at him was enough to let us know what his illness was 
— the man was simply shaking with fear. It came out now 
that he must have been there some time, no one having seen 
him when the rush took place, and the other men said that he 
had been of no use all through, giving out that he felt very 
unwell. We made him work at the barricade, and it was 
wonderful how soon his illness passed off. 

About six o 3 clock p.m. two companies of cavalry rode up, 
the Indians still remaining within sight, as they knew that the 
cavalry horses could not catch them; for these large eastern 
horses when sent west and living on grass and half rations 
of corn, beside being constantly on scout duty, where they 
hardly get any, soon fall away to nothing and can hardly 
carry themselves. About two hours' travelling took us into 
the Post, where we arrived nearly worn out, having been 
fighting for three days, with very little food and less sleep. 



WE REACH FORT ARBUCKLE. 227 

The young Caddo returned with the troops, but left the mare 
at the Post, as she well deserved a rest. She had behaved 
splendidly, having run away from the Comanches in the 
first two or three miles ; so that most of them had turned 
back, and only three or four had followed nearly to the 
fort. 



228 THE CADDO INDIANS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The Caddo Indians. — Story of .their chief and the Comanches. — An insolent 
"blacksmith. His punishment. — Our camp fired into. — Discovery of the 
culprits. Their punishment. — Leave Fort Arbuckle. — Chase of a wolf 
by a pointer. — Difficulty of crossing the Red River. — I return for 
provisions. — Difficulty of carrying eggs on horseback. — An Indian 
reservation.— Incivility of an Indian. "We become better friends. — 
Thirsty oxen. — Our party breaks up. 

On arriving at the fort we called on the commanding officer, 
and found that he was away on leave, but the officer acting 
for him kindly gave us an order to have our horses shod by 
the cavalry smith. The garrison consisted of one company 
of white infantry, and two of white and one of negro cavalry. 

We next rewarded the Caddo who had ridden to fetch us 
help, and had a talk with him about his ride. He said he had 
never ridden so good an animal as my mare, and that after the 
first two miles she had run away from the Comanches without 
any need of a whip. He then tried to buy her of me, but of 
course I would not sell her. We found that there were 
forty Caddos in the service of the Government here as scouts, 
who were paid, armed, and mounted as soldiers; and most 



ANECDOTE OF THEIR CHIEF. 229 

excellent scouts they were, and belonged to a tribe which 
boasted that they had never killed a white man. Their chief 
had gone into the Southern army at the beginning of the war, 
and had risen to the rank of captain and gained a name 
for bravery. 

I heard here a story of him which will show the kind of 
man he was. It seems that some time in the summer of the 
previous year, he and seventy of his men were out on a 
hunt, in the course of which they came across the Comanche 
chief Queen- a-ha-be and about three hundred warriors of his 
tribe. Now though the Comanches were at war with the 
whites, they were not so with the Caddos, so they fraternized 
and camped together. 

One day as the Caddo chief was walking about the Comanche 
camp, he came upon a horse with the U.S. brand, showing he 
belonged to the Government, and on asking how he came to 
be there, he was told that shortly before meeting the Caddos, 
and after the latter had left Fort Arbuckle, the Comanches 
had made a raid on it, and had carried oft some ten or twelve 
soldiers' horses. On hearing this the Caddo chief went to 
Queen -a-ha-be and asked if what he had heard was true, when 
Queen-a-ha-be said that it was an affair between the United 
States Government and himself, and with which he had nothing 
to do. The Caddo chief replied, that as head of the scouts he 
was answerable for the safety of the fort and all its horses, and 
that those which had been stolen must be given up to him 
that he might take them back. Queen-a-ha-be flatly refused 
to do this, on which the Caddo chief said that if they were not 
given up to him by the next morning he should come and take 
them. Queen-a-ha-be laughed at the idea, saying that he had 



230 AN INSOLENT BLACKSMITH. 

three hundred warriors to the Caddo's seventy, and that it 
would be folly in him to attempt it. The Caddos immediately 
left the Comanche camp, and formed a separate one on a small 
hill in the neighbourhood, and in the morning sent a runner to 
ask what the Comanches had decided to do, and on hearing 
that they meant to keep the horses the seventy Caddos 
attacked their camp, and after a desperate fight, lasting some 
hours, utterly routed them, killing seventeen and capturing 
most of their horses as well as those stolen from the fort. 
They then went back to Arbuckle and returned the stolen 
horses, giving a pony to everyone who had temporarily been 
deprived of his horse. This attack on the Comanches meant a 
great deal to the Caddos, for from this time they could no 
longer go hunting to get buffalo-robes and deer-skins, which 
are to Indians what money is to white men — being exchanged 
for everything they require. 

Having got leave to have our horses shod, we sent them in 
charge of one of our men to the forge, from which they 
returned in the evening, nothing having been done to them. 
This happened again next the day, so on the third day I rode up 
to the forge and saw the smith, a brawny negro, who said in a 
very insolent manner that he had enough to do without 
shoeing the horses of everyone who came along. The smithy 
was a high one and the door large, so I rode in to remonstrate 
with him, telling him that whereas the order entitled us to have 
our horses shod for nothing, we meant to pay him what we 
should have paid an ordinary smith. This had no effect on him, 
and he ended by ordering me out of the smithy, enforcing his 
words with an iron bar with which he advanced on me, but the 
muzzle of a revolver made him think better of it, and he con- 



OUR CAMP FIRED INTO. 231 

tented himself with had language. I at once rode off to the officer 
who had given us the order and reported what had occurred, 
on which the matter was inquired into and the negro was 
condemned to work for a month with a ball chained to his leg. 

I left that day for the Caddo village to visit H , who 

had ridden there two days before and had been taken ill and 
had been unable to return. When I got back on the following 

day, I found that F and the men had been very much 

startled during the night by a volley which had been fired at 
the tent_, but fortunately had gone high. They had turned 
out and remained on the watch for some time, hearing bugles 
blowing at the Post and the troops mustering in haste. 
Shortly afterwards the Caddo scout arrived at our camp, 
having been all round the fort and found no signs of 
Comanches, and asked our party whether they could explain 
the firing. The thing remained a mystery until the morning, 
when one of the negro troopers went to the commanding 
officer and confessed that he and seven or eight of his comrades 
had crept out in the night, their men being on guard, and 
had fired at the tent in revenge for the punishment of the 
smith, of which we had been the cause. There were not enough 
officers at the fort for a court-martial, so the men concerned 
were imprisoned till the commandant returned, when they 
were tried and most of them were sent to the Dry Tortugas, 
islands off the coast of Florida, and answering to our Botany 
Bay as it used to be. 

We had now recovered from our fatigue, and our remaining 
animals were in good condition, having been fed on corn since 
our arrival at the Post, so we determined to start for Fort 
Smith in Arkansas, sell off our horses and mules there, and 



232 LEAVE FOET AEBUCKLE. 

then go down to Memphis, on the Mississippi, where our party 
would break up. We had still four mules, though we had lost 
two of our best, and four horses — fortunately neither my mare 
nor the Sheridan horse had been hurt — so that we still had 
enough for our present journey. We left the fort about the 
middle of July, and travelled slowly through a very pretty 
country, killing a deer now and then for food, as there were 
then no cattle in those parts. Our dogs had dwindled to two, 
our camp dog and a pointer, and the latter caused us a good 
laugh soon after leaving the Post. We jumped a wolf from 
some bushes, on which the pointer gave chase, the wolf doing 
his best till he was on the other side of a small valley and 
out of shot, when he turned round and waited for his 
pursuer, who on coming up and finding the wolf waiting for 
him, seeing, too, that he had some very formidable teeth and 
was altogether a different animal from what he appeared to 
be when running away, he now stopped, and then the two sat 
down face to face, putting out their noses to smell one 
another, one of them making a step forward when the other 
would take one back; and this continued for some minutes, 
when they got up and separated, the dog returning to us 
with a very sheepish air. All this time we had been trying 
to set Booze on the wolf's track, but without success, and 
we found soon afterwards that the great heat during our 
journey had made a coward, at all events temporarily, of one 
of the pluckiest dogs I ever met with. 

In a few days we passed the first ranche, and from this 
point we came across a good many, getting milk and butter 
now and then — great treats when you have been without them 
for months. We reached the Red River without any incident 



CROSSING THE RED RIVER. 233 

worth relating and found the water low, so, notwithstanding 
it abounds with quicksands, we began to cross at once. It was 
here about a hundred yards wide with a sandy bottom and 
very muddy water, and soon after entering it the mules sank 
in a quicksand, and after straggling for a few moments quietly 
lay down and refused to pull any more. We unharnessed 
them with a great deal of trouble, made them rise and got 
them out of the river, and then tried to draw the waggon out 
backwards, but it had sunk till the bottom of it rested on the 
sand, and it would not move ; the mules, too, were demoralized 

and would not do their best. So F rode to a ranche, 

which we had passed some three hours previously, and 
returned bringing the owner and three span of good oxen. 
Fortunately it was still only midday, so that we had plenty of 

time before us. While F was away we all stripped, and 

with nothing but our hats on unloaded the waggon, carry- 
ing everything over on our heads ; and if one of my readers 
will take a sack of flour weighing a hundred pounds, or a 
portmanteau of about the same weight, on his head, and will 
wade a river a hundred yards wide under a broiling sun, and 
keep this up for two hours, he will know whether we had a 

pleasant task or not ; but by the time F returned, all our 

things, including a heavy stove, were piled on the opposite 
bank. We first had our dinner and then, following the advice 
of the owner of the oxen, we dug away the sand as much as 
possible from round the wheels of the waggon — and the 
digging under water was very hard work ; then we fastened a 
rope to the hind axle and brought the end of it on to the 
bank, the waggon being about twenty yards from the edge of 
the water. The oxen were fastened to this rope and the whip 



234 CARRYING EGGS ON HORSEBACK. 

applied, and out the waggon came. We then put the mules in 
again, took off all our clothing once more, and by keeping sticks 
going and running alongside, shouting like madmen, not 
allowing the mules to rest for a moment, we got the waggon 
across. 

It was arranged that the rest should go on and camp at the 
first grass, while I should return with the settler and bring 
back some milk and eggs, taking a gallon keg for the former 
and a handkerchief for the latter. The only mistake I made 
was in choosing the horse I did for this ride, taking the wild 
horse we had broken ourselves. He had turned out a fine horse 
for hunting, letting you fire off his back; but he had one 
peculiarity, for though used to a gun, if you pulled out your 
handerchief suddenly, he would jump violently and try to bolt ; 
even if you took off your hat quickly he would do the same. We 
reached the settler's house about four o'clock in the afternoon, 
filled my keg with milk and put four dozen eggs into the 
handkerchief: then I mounted and was handed the keg, which 
I hung round my neck with a strap, taking the handkerchief 
in my hand, the settler showing both to the horse before 
handing them to me. For some miles all went well, as I kept 
the eggs in a straight line behind his head, holding them high 
so as to avoid hitting the pommel of the saddle. This was very 
tiring to do for any length of time, and I presently felt the 
eggs go bump and knew that at least one was broken. Then 
the same thing happened again, so I tried holding them on one 
side, and had no sooner done so than the horse sprang five or 
six feet sideways, bringing the eggs with a tremendous bang 
against my knee, and I had hard work to save any of them and 
quiet the horse. Each time, too, that he jumped the keg would 



AN INDIAN RESERVATION. 235 

swing outwards and come back against me with a thump ; this 
happened so often that I was thankful when I reached the 
river. Now, however, came the worst part of it, as I had to 
ride across as fast as possible to avoid the quicksands, so that 
by the time I had reached the other side my eggs were a soft 
mass and the contents of the handkerchief streaming down the 
horse's shoulder and on to my boots. The waggon had been 
taken some distance, and as it was by this time dark, I do not 
know how I should have found it had they not hung a lantern 
in a tree to guide me, the trail being indistinct even by day. 
On reaching camp the eggs were examined and only four sound 
ones were found among them ; we, however, cooked the yolks 
which remained in the handkerchief, making them into an 
omelet, of which a large portion was broken egg-shell. 

We were now in the Indian reservation, and met a good 
many of the semi-civilized ones, and very bad they looked in 
white men's dress. An Indian will not cut his hair short 
before he puts on a wideawake, and his long black hair 
hanging down, in many cases far over his coat collar, quite 
spoils him. And, again, their copper-coloured faces are not 
suited to our dress, and an Indian who is grand -looking in his 
own costume is a scarecrow in ours, and though in some of the 
larger towns, where they have become doctors, lawyers, &c, 
they have almost transformed themselves into white men, their 
hair is u shingled/' as American barbers call it, and some of 
them have become great dandies. Those we came across were 
as a rule rough specimens, and at many of the houses they 
refused to sell us anything ; in some cases not even answering 
our questions. 

It had been pouring all one day and the country was little 



236 AN UNCIVIL INDIAN. 

better than a swamp, when towards evening we reached a good- 
sized ranche, and we determined to stay there instead of putting 
up our tent in the water. On riding up to it we found an 
Indian sitting in the verandah, so we asked him whether we 
could remain the night if we paid for all we had. He answered 
very roughly that we could not do so, and nothing more could 
we get out of him. It was such awful weather that we made 
up our minds we would stop, and told him so, on which he got 
up and went away. We drove the waggon up close to the 
verandah and got out our food and cooking-things, no one 
coming near us. We then went into the house, where we 
found two women who would not speak to us, so we made up a 
fire in the stove and boiled some coffee and cooked some meat, 
retiring then to the verandah and sat down and ate it. Later 
in the evening our host returned bringing some other Indians 
with him ; but he seemed to have calmed down and talked to 
us about where we had come from and our object in travelling 
till bed-time, being especially interested in our fight with the 
Comanches, and he became quite friendly when he heard that 
we had killed and scalped one of them. In the morning the 
women of the house did our cooking for us, and our bill on 
leaving, including corn and fodder for our horses, was 
reasonable. 

The road was now very heavy, and as we intended to sell our 
animals at Tort Smith, and did not, therefore, wish them to 
arrive looking thin, we hired a span of oxen to take our 
waggon there, coming down from three or four miles an hour 
to barely two. I know of nothing more tedious than having 
to keep with a waggon and being obliged to check your horse 
continually, for his slowest walk is much too fast for them. 



OUR PARTY BREAKS UP. 237 

In dry weather, when they have gone for some hours without 
water, they are the most obstinate animals in the world, mules 
being nowhere when compared with them. On one occasion 
as we neared Fort Smith, we had gone from morning until late 
in the afternoon, finding no water and passing no house where 
we could have got it from a well, so that the oxen were very 
thirsty and their tongues were hanging out, when suddenly we 
came on a large pond having a bank on our side of it, and in 
one minute, in spite of all we could do, they were over the 
bank and into the water, which came almost over their backs, 
the bed of the waggon being submerged and most of our things 
wet through. It was impossible to go back, so they had to be 
forced through the pond, which fortunately became no deeper. 

When about seven or eight miles from Fort Smith we 
camped in a very pretty spot to allow our horses to recover 
from their fatigue, and after a stay of some days we had them 
taken into the place where sales were always held, which was 
a large open space in the middle of the town. A large crowd 
collected seemingly to decry our animals, and everything sold 
very badly ; but we were obliged to let things go, as we wanted 
to get away and had a long journey before us, and wished to 
reach the mountains before the winter set in. I retained the 
stallion and mare, meaning to take them with me. 

From Fort Smith we went by rail to White River, and down 

that to Memphis, where our party broke up. H remained 

there. F and I went north, and the men were paid off 

and left behind. I was very much surprised to hear years 
afterwards that one of them had gone into a lawyer's office 
and that he is now a lawyer in St. Louis and doing very well, 
and another had set up as a butcher in Chicago. 



238 JULESBERli. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Account of Julesberg. A specimen of the manners of Julesberg. Our 
lodgings. Seeing the town. Its inhabitants. — Gambling-saloons. — 
We start for Sheyenne. — Description of hotel accommodation. — A 
citizen shot by an officer. — Start for Elk Mountain. — Reach Willow 
Springs. — All Houston. — Camp at Willow Springs. — Woodchoppers, 
bad characters. — Story about Houston. — Obliged to hunt singly. — We 
go together to hunt. — A deserted hut and grave of occupant. — A visitor. 
— Polly's behaviour. — F starts for Sheyenne. — Snowed in. — Vil- 
lainous-looking visitors. They are induced to go. — Precautions. — F 's 

return. — I return to Sheyenne. — F goes to Virginia Dale. 

From Memphis F and I took the steamer for Omaha,, by 

way of St. Louis — a long journey of nearly sixteen hundred 
miles — and thence we went by the Central Pacific Railway to 
Julesberg, which was then the temporary terminus of the rail- 
way. Julesberg was a most extraordinary place. In a few 
months it had grown out of nothing, and on a bare prairie, to 
be a town of three thousand inhabitants, most of whom were 
the offscourings of the western cities. Two houses out of 
every three were either saloons and gambling-dens or dance- 
houses, while the remainder were shops. There was no hotel 
at the time I am speaking of, and when we got out of the 



OUR LODGINGS. 239 

train and made inquiries for a place to stop at, we were told 
that there was an eating-house, where they had a lean-to on 
each side, divided into pens, some seven feet square, and that 
we might with luck get one of these. 

While walking along the street we had soon an opportunity 
of seeing what kind of a place we were in. A man more than 
half drunk rushed out of a saloon on the opposite side of the 
street, followed by another in the same state, with a pistol in 
his hand, which, on his catching the first man, he put to his 
head and tried to shoot him, but was too drunk to do it ; and 
when we were going to run across and interfere, a bystander 
told us not to be fools, but to remain where we were, as the 
more of such men there were shot the better . 

The streets were composed of small one-storey wooden 
houses of all shapes, and placed anyhow, some projecting 
many feet further into the street than others — no two being 
alike — and the intervals between them were filled with empty 
tins, broken crockery, old boots, broken kettles, bottles, and 
all kinds of rubbish. Some men had put a short piece of 
board sidewalk in front of their houses, and some had not, 
which made the walking at night very awkward, especially as 
there were no street lamps, and the only light came from the 
lanterns hung in front of saloons to light up some transpar- 
ency. On arriving at the eating-house we found that we could 
have one of the pens between us, every bed here being meant 
for two, and we were to get our meals in the centre room, our 
bedroom being just big enough for a bed, chair, and a very 
small wash-stand, with barely room to stand when dressing, 
making it necessary for one of us to dress while sitting 
on the bed. The people who came for meals were a very 



240 A DAMP BED. 

miscellaneous collection — gamblers in black frock-coats, dia- 
mond breast-pins, and rings, sitting next to ox-drivers and 
railway labourers, clerks in the different stores, and ex-prize- 
fighters, who were now keeping saloons ; and these last were 
quite the " upper crust," no men being more thought of in 
the "West, and there were also a few women. The food put 
before us was such as you might expect in such a place — half 
cold, and all tasting alike, and served up in tiny oval dishes, 
which were placed in a semicircle round your plate, and every- 
thing was brought at once. The charge was one dollar, and 
paid on the spot, as no one was trusted. 

The first night we were there it began to rain, and almost 

immediately F and I felt water pouring on us ; so we lit 

the candle, and then found that the roof was only composed of 
boards laid side by side, the chinks not being stopped in any 
way, and that consequently there was nothing to keep the rain 
from coming through. Having a mackintosh sheet with us, 
we put it over the bed, but it was not quite large enough, and, 
besides, the water collected on it so rapidly that there was 
soon a small lake in the middle, and in shooting it off from 
time to time we at last shot one lot into the middle of the 
bed. This settled it ; so we hastily put on a few clothes, and 
gathering up our belongings and such bedding as had escaped 
the deluge, we went into the eating-room, where we found a 
number of people, of all ages and both sexes, in similar dress^ 
or rather undress, looking very miserable, and as there was 
nowhere else for us to go, we turned in under and on the 
tables. 

The next day we went round to see the town, as it was very 
unsafe to do so at night, and by dinner-time we quite agreed 



GAMBLING-SALOONS. 241 

with a man who at supper the night before had said that 
ic this place was only removed by the thickness of a sheet of 
writing-paper from a certain hot place/' which shall be name- 
less. The swells were the gamblers., who seemed always to 
have plenty of money , with which they were continually treat- 
ing their friends, and they generally drove a fine pair of 
trotting-horses and had some good dogs. We had met many 
of them in St. Joe when fitting out for our various trips, and 
had always found them very civil, giving us many invitations 
to " drop in and see them some evening," for which we 
thanked them, but did not take advantage of. As there were 
some four thousand men working on the railway and getting 
good wages, never less than eight shillings a day, and as, 
being the terminus of the railway, all miners from the moun- 
tains when on their way home for the winter were obliged to 
come there to take the train, there was a great deal of money 
to be made by these gentry, many miners bringing in several 
thousands of dollars^ and losing them all in one night, working 
at anything they could get till spring, and then beginning 
again. Nearly all the saloons had some attraction to tempt 
people to go in — long-distance walking-matches against time 
being the craze when we were there, most of the saloons having 
some such notice as the following, in a transparency : — c ' Walk 
in, gentlemen, and see John Smith, the champion long-distance 
walker of the world, who is doing one thousand miles in one 
thousand hours, and is now fresher than when he began last 
week. — N.B. Don't be taken in by the shams at the other 
houses." The said John Smith when you went in to see him, 
paying one shilling for doing so, looked wonderfully fresh, 
which was not surprising, as he went comfortably to bed on 



242 SHEYENNE. 

the house being closed, and resumed operations when it opened 
at eight the next morning. Almost every night there were 
fights in these saloons ; a good many men were shot, and no 
notice was taken of it, as there were only three policemen in 
the place, who took particularly good care to get out of the 
way as soon as a row began. 

Two days in such a place satisfied us, so we went to a livery 
stable and bought a waggon and two ponies and a small out- 
fit, and started for Sheyenne — a place to which Julesberg was 
beginning to move on to, as the railway was finished to within 
a few miles of that town. It was about ninety miles further 
west, and we were three days in reaching it, and on arrival 
found it to be just such another place as Julesberg, but rather 
more substantially built, and possessing two wooden hotels, 
to one of which we went, putting our ponies in a livery stable 
together with " Polly " and " Henry/' the daily bill for the 
four being eight dollars (32 shillings). The excuse for such 
an outrageous charge was, that nothing was grown in the 
country, and everything had to be brought from such a dis- 
tance. I forget the name of our hotel, but it was kept by a 
Mr. Gildersleeve, and it contained only one room for men, in 
which there were twenty-seven beds, each meant for two. 
You never knew who you were going to have as companion — 
very frequently a half-drunken waggon-driver, who before 
he got into bed deposited a loaded revolver under the pillow, 
which you found yourself lying on in the course of the night. 
As we were two we were spared this, though having a number 
of such men in the room with you was quite bad enough. I 
have said there was only one room for men ; but divided from 
this by rough unplaned boards, merely put up side by side, 



A CIVILIAN SHOT BY AN OFFICER. 243 

were two small rooms for ladies or married men, though the 
number of the former coming to Sheyenne was extremely 
limited. We found this to be quite as rough a place as Jules- 
berg, and of the same size, and the description of one will do 
for the other. 

There was a good deal of excitement when we went there 
about a young officer having shot a civilian under the follow- 
ing circumstances : — He happened to be officer of the day at 
Fort William Russell, three miles from Sheyenne, when in 
going his rounds, accompanied by an armed soldier, he heard 
a quarrel going on in a small house, in which lived an old 
couple, the husband being a mule-driver to the post, though 
not a soldier. The man who was with the officer told him that 
the old man and his wife were always quarrelling, but that it 
never amounted to anything more than words, so no one took 
any notice of it. The officer, however, opened the door and 
called to the old fellow to be quiet, but got a rough answer, 
on which he went in and abused the couple, the old man giving 
him as good in return ; whereupon the officer got in a rage 
and told the soldier to shoot him, and as he refused he 
took the rifle from him and shot the old man dead. He was 
arrested and tried by court-martial, but was acquitted, because 
he pleaded that the man put his hand behind him to pull out 
a revolver, and that he had shot him in self-defence. This 
verdict did not satisfy the people of Sheyenne, and they sent 
to demand another trial, the chief reason for their animosity 
being that the same officer had shot another man under some- 
what similar circumstances about a year before, when he had 
also been acquitted. On receiving the demand the comman- 
dant of the post sent the officer east to be tried, and I saw 

r2 



244 START FOR ELK MOUNTAIN. 

him come into Sheyemie under a strong escort, without which 
I am sure he would have been lynched. The soldiers had very 
hard work to save him as it was — a huge crowd surrounding 
them from the entrance to the town to the station, who were 
only kept off by the fixed bayonets which the soldiers used 
freely. 

We only remained a day or two to complete our outfit, and 
then set off along the proposed line of railway towards ' ' Elk 

Mountain. - " F drove the waggon, while I rode one horse 

and led the other, as we had not cared to engage any man we 
had seen in Sheyenne. We had a small tent; but as there 
was no wood from the town to the mountains, and as we had 
no poles, we did not put it np, but slept in the waggon, which 
was very risky, as the Sheyennes and Sioux were often in the 
neighbourhood, and had run a man into a town a few days 
before. 

We had bought a log of cedar as firewood, about six feet 
long and six inches square, for which we gave three shillings, 
and which we made last us for four or five days ; as our meat 
was cooked, and we had only to boil coffee, using crackers for 
bread. At the end of that time we reached a small settlement 
called Willow Springs, which had sprung up to supply the 
woodchoppers — who had gone into the mountains to cut cord- 
wood for the railway — with whiskey and provisions. As 
engines in the west always used wood in those days, an 
immense supply was needed, and these men made it pay well, 
cutting three cords a day, and getting ten shillings a cord. 
The only drawback was the high price of provisions, every- 
thing being seven or eight times its price on the Missouri 
River 



ALL HOUSTON. 245 

Here we met a man named u All Houston," one of the best 
hunters and best shots at game with a rifle that I ever came 
across. He was only twenty-seven or eight, but had been all 
his life in the mountains, and had never done anything but 
hunt. He had ; too, a pony with almost as great a reputation 
as himself. She was about the size of Polly, and so fast that 
he had run down elk over rough ground with her. We tried 
to engage him to go with us, and pass the winter somewhere 
in the mountains ; but this he refused to do, as he made all the 
money he wanted by killing antelope and elk and selling the 
meat at the stage stations. This was a stage that ran between 
California and Sheyenne. He gave us a good report of game, 
especially antelope, which then swarmed all along the stage 
line. There were always some in sight ; and Houston would 
at any time back himself to kill an average of five a day, and 
would often get more. He agreed to go on a hunt ior a few 
days with us, riding his pony, and being armed wiih an 
" over and under " rifle weighing eighteen pounds, which 
carried a ball sixty to the pound ; and we got off the following 
morning, taking it in turns to drive the waggon. Houston 
knew every foot of the country and acted as guide, and as he 
was a very quiet young fellow and free from brag, he made a 
very pleasant companion. 

Willow Springs lay at the foot of the first range of the 
Rockies — a long line of glaciers being visible from it, and the 
wooded hills which intervened formed a lovely country to hunt 
in, as they were full of little prairies, surrounded by timber, 
and with small streams running through them, where at that 
time you could find game. You very seldom came across a 
hunter, as most of them were too much afraid of the Indians 



246 CAMP AT WILLOW SPRINGS. 

to venture far into the mountains, though there was really 
very little danger, as these always went south when the cold 
weather set in. We camped in a narrow valley by a small 
stream, with a glacier filling up the end of it, and an enormous 
rock formed a capital shelter for the camp. The first day we 
all went out together, and left the tent and horses to look after 
themselves, the only danger being from the many outlaws 
among the woodchoppers, as a great number of men who had 
escaped from justice took refuge here, as it was a perfectly 
safe asylum. 

For some time we saw no game, till suddenly we heard a 
rattling among the stones, and on looking up saw seven or 
eight deer (whitetails) galloping along the side of the mountain 
through some fir-trees, and about a hundred yards above us. 
Houston was off in a moment, and the eighteen-pounder raised 
and fired, the buck he aimed at being evidently hit, when 
waiting till he passed an open spot about fifteen feet wide 
Houston fired again, and down he rolled into the track we were 

on. Later in the day F killed a second buck, seeing several 

more, as game was very plentiful, and we saw elk-tracks in all 

directions. The next day F . and Houston went out, and 

I remained to take care of camp, and when they returned, 

bringing one whitetail, F- told me that the only chance 

Houston had during the day was at this deer, which stood 
behind a large tree so that only the head and a small portion 
of the shoulder was visible, and though the distance was more 
than two hundred yards, he killed it at the first shot. Before 
Houston left camp we tried to get him to run his mare against 
mine; but he refused to do so, as he said he should feel so 
badly if she were beaten . 



A HUNTING-MATCH. 247 

He left us on the third day, and we were very sorry to see 
him go. Some months afterwards an officer, who had been 
moved from Fort William Russell to Fort Laramie, happened 
to say one day that the best hunter in the west lived at "Willow 
Springs in Colorado. Now as there was a celebrated Indian 
hunter, who supplied Laramie with game, the officers there 
offered to back him against Houston, if he would consent to 
hunt on the Indian's ground. He was sent for, and on hearing 
the terms of the wager agreed to do his best, if given a fort- 
night to learn the ground. The terms were arranged, and 
they then set out on a hunt ; the agreement being that which- 
ever brought in most game at the end of a fortnight was to be 
considered the winner, and was to get half the bet ; and at 
the expiration of the time Houston had beaten the Indian 
badly. This was probably done by good shooting, as I have 
never yet seen an Indian who could shoot well. 

As the valley in which our camp was pitched seemed very 
central for hunting and the keep was good, we determined to 
put up a cabin ; so we began cutting logs, and had got together 
a good many, when a passing hunter told us of a much better 
place, so we abandoned the idea, meaning to remain some 
weeks longer where we were, and to move to the place he 
recommended later in the autumn. As it was unwise to 
leave camp without anyone to look after it now that the 
woodchoppers knew of our being in the mountains, we nad 
to hunt singly, and found a good many deer, a light fall of 

snow making it easy to track them. F had a very long 

chase after an elk which he had wounded, following it for 
eight hours far into the mountains, and he told me on his 
return that, to judge by the sign he had come across, elk 



248 AN EXCUKSION. 

must be much more plentiful there than where we were, and 
advised our going there later. It seemed to have been the 
great Indian hunting-ground during the summer; for he had 
seen several small camps, where, from the number of bones 
lying about, they must have had great sport. He had seen no 
bear-tracks, so they had evidently holed up, and we only came 
across one during our stay, when the bear had probably come 
out for a time, as they often do in the winter when there is 
a spell of open weather. 

One day we determined to let the tent take care of itself and 
have a hunt together ; so we hid most of our valuables on the 
top of the rock against which the tent was pitched, and rode 
far into the mountains. When crossing some of the stony 
ridges we had some desperate scrambling, and frequently we 
had to lead our horses over places which were only fit for 
goats. For this kind of work we always found horses better 
than mules. They no doubt fall more at first ; but when 
used to mountain work they are much quicker and pleas ant er 
to ride than the latter ; for though a mule very seldom falls, 
he is continually catching his toe as if about to do so. We 
had ridden some miles when we came into a beautiful little 
valley about a mile long — wooded hills and picturesque rocks 
surrounding it, while the grass was first-rate, making it and 
the small valleys which ran out of it an ideal hunting-ground. 

On our way up the valley we passed an enormous rock, 
which had at some distant period fallen from above, and 
which was now covered with a dense growth of small fir-trees. 
It lay close to the side of a wooded mountain; but some- 
thing made me ride round to see whether there was room to 
pass behind it, when I found that there was a circular hollow 



a hunter's grave. 249 

between it and the mount ain, in which stood a cabin, having a 
grave in front of it, with a piece of wood, on which was cut a 
cross placed upright at one end. The grave told its own tale very 
plainly. Some hunter had put up this cabin to pass the winter 
in, but had been murdered by the Indians, and someone finding 
the body had buried it and erected this rough tombstone. 
We had dinner here, and soon after leaving it saw two elk 

going over a ridge on our left ; so F set off to stalk them, 

and I remained holding the horses. At the end of half an 
hour I heard a shot ; so I mounted and rode after him, and 
found him in the next valley standing over a fine young bull. 
Having now plenty of meat, the fancy took us to remain the 
night in the hunter's cabin ; so we cut up the elk, and loading 
both horses led them back to it, picketing them out, and 
setting to work to repair the roof, most of which had fallen in, 
as it was only constructed of fir -boughs. This we soon made 
water-tight ; then we cleaned out the inside, putting down a 
carpet of pine-branches ; made a saddle-blanket into a door, 
and had everything snug by sunset. We had only venison 
and water as food and drink, and one saddle-blanket as cover- 
ing j but as the end of the hut was solid rock, and as we had 
made the fire against this, the inside was almost too warm : so 
we passed a very pleasant night, sitting up late to discuss 
Indian fights and hunting. There was something very romantic 
in the situation of the place, and we very nearly made up our 
minds to winter here, the scarcity of water causing us to give 
up the idea. Now that that country is settled, and the Indians 
have been driven out of it and placed on a reservation, I can 
fancy that valley making a beautiful farm, and I hope that 
some day I may revisit it and stay with the owner. 



250 polly's sagacity. 

On the second day after our return to camp we had a visitor. 
It was about dinner-time, and both of us were at home, when 
a big, rough-looking woodchopper walked into camp, and after 
saying u How d'ye ? " sat down by the fire. It seemed that he 
had heard from Houston of our being here, and of our having 
some medicines with us ; so he had come to know whether we 
had anything which would do good to a very bad toothache 
which he had now had for some days, and which had made his 

face as big as two. It was a hollow tooth, and F was 

able to relieve the man before he left, ending by giving him 
a glass of Santa Cruz rum and water — a most insinuating 
beverage, and one which he seemed to appreciate thoroughly. 
He was most grateful, and as he was not allowed to pay for 
the medicine, he wanted to know what he could do for us, but 
we could think of nothing ; so, after having dinner, he left, 
warning us that there were some very bad characters in the 
mountains, and that we ought to keep an eye on our horses. 
We were certainly living in a very careless way, keeping no 
guard ; and our only reliance was on " Polly/' who, if any- 
thing strange came near the camp at night, galloped to the 
tent and neighed. We had made a great pet of her, never 
tying her up, as she would always stand to be caught, and if 
we were late in the morning she would put her head in and 
pull our blankets gently, as a hint that she wanted her sugar. 
When we sat by the camp fire, too, at night, she would come 
and stand by, taking the greatest care not to tread on anyone, 
and every now and then rubbing her head against us. 

Soon after this it got very cold, and as we had brought no 

great- coats it was arranged that F should ride to 

Sheyenne and buy some soldiers' overcoats, returning as fast 



SEVERE SNOW-STORM. 251 

as he could. We killed game enough to last a week, so that 
I should not have to leave camp, and he then started, meaning 
to try to do it in six days — the distance being about a hundred 
and twenty miles. The morning after he left I got up, think- 
ing it seemed very much colder than the day before, and on 
trying to open the door of the tent I found it was held down 
by a mass of snow, as it was banked up against the canvas to 
the height of four feet. This was a pleasant prospect for a 
man left quite alone in the mountains,. forty miles from any- 
where. However, I had to have breakfast ; so I waded out, 
and after feeling about with my feet for some time I found the 
shovel, with which I cleared away the snow for a fire, and 
found the cooking-things and axe, which of course had been 
buried. Fortunately there was any amount of pitch-pine — a 
grand wood in a cold country, as it is full of resin — and I soon 
had a large fire and some steaks on it, when I began to feel 
comfortable once more. Having finished my breakfast and 
warmed myself with about three pints of hot coffee, I hunted 
up the horses, which I found looking very miserable; but 
Polly had omitted to come for her sugar, and had got into the 
middle of a thicket. The picketed horses had turned their 
tails to the storm, and had stood so still that they had a 
sharp ridge of snow several inches high all along their backs. 
I brought them to the fire, and threw on a great quantity 
of wood, making a grand blaze, which they appreciated as 
much as I did ; and I then turned them loose, as they could 
find some feed among the trees, and would be sheltered at the 
same time. 

I was sitting near the fire doing some mending, having a 
goodly collection of stockings lying by me, when I heard the 



252 VILLAINOUS-LOOKING VISITORS. 

horses neighing down the valley, and a few minutes later Polly 
appeared and galloped up to me ; so I took a double twelve-bore 
rifle, which I kept loaded, and walked down towards the stream 
where the horses were, when I met two villainous-looking half- 
breeds, mounted on small ponies, and carrying rifles and 
revolvers. They had evidently from the tracks been examin- 
ing our stock, and were now on their way to see how many we 
were. They asked me where the camp was and what we were 
doing there ; also of how many the party consisted ; and as I 
did not like their looks I said that there were several, but that 
my companions were away hunting, though I expected them 
back at any minute. They accompanied me to the tent, and 
telling me that they had eaten very little breakfast, they cut 
some steaks off one of the deer which I had hanging up, and I 
gave them some coffee. They then lit their pipes and made 
themselves comfortable round the fire, asking me all kinds of 
questions — as to where I came from; what our object was in 
hunting; evidently not believing me when I said we were out 
for pleasure, but thinking we must be looking up land claims, 
as it was incomprehensible to men of their kind that anyone 
should find pleasure out of a town. When they had sat a 
short time they said that they would go into the tent and take 
a sleep ; so, as there were many things in it which would have 
tempted them very much, and which if they did not take at 
once they might come back for that night, I told them that it 
was so small that our beds entirely filled it, and that we did 
not allow anyone in it. On this they said that I did not seem 
to be very hospitable, and that they would come again when 
my companions were at home. I replied that they were 
welcome at any time to all they could eat, and I warned them 



DETERMINE TO RETURN TO SHEYENNE. 253 

not to come at night, as with so many bad characters about 
we always fired first and asked who it was afterwards. Fortu- 
nately they did not see " Polly/' and the other two horses were 
looking so miserable and were so thin — every hair standing on 
end from the cold — that they did not seem to think them 
worth the risk of being shot for. After they were gone I 
brought up the horses and picketed them where I could see 
them from the tent, and before dark fastened them to the 

waggon, and kept this up till F returned. I could cut no 

grass, as the snow was nearly two feet deep ; but when animals 
have been feeding all day, they do not eat much at night. I 
also kept a gun loaded with buckshot handy, as it was a much 
better weapon at night than a rifle ; but I saw no more of the 
half-breeds. 

F returned on the evening of the sixth day with the 

coats, and very poor things we found them. Soldiers line theirs 
with blanket, when they are fairly warm. Our " toothache 
friend" paid us another visit before we left this camp, evi- 
dently coming in hopes of getting some more Santa Cruz rum, 
for he led the conversation round to it at once. 1 told him of 
my late visitors, whom he said he did not know, though he 
told us that some of the worst men in the mountains were 
half-breeds. He also said that if I had owned to being alone 
I should have had trouble most probably. In spite of the 
cold weather I had been very much troubled with ague ; so I 
made up my mind to go into Sheyenne for a few weeks and 

try to shake it off, and as F did not care to camp out alone, 

he decided to go into a small place called " Virginia Dale/'' and 
make excursions into the mountains from there with a pack- 
horse, and to wait at Virginia Dale till I rejoined him. 



254 MEET MX OLD DRIVER. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Move to Virginia Dale. — Meet my old driver. — Stage drivers. — Abundance 
of antelope. — Reach Sheyenne. — Vigilance committee. — Election for 
mayor. — An unpleasant neighbour. Play a practical joke on him. — 
Life in Sheyenne. — Action of the Vigilance committee. — Stories of 
various desperadoes. — Joe Riley the prize-fighter. — Racing at 
Sheyenne. — A railway quickly made. — Leave for England and sell 
" Polly." 

F determined to move to Virginia Dale before I left, as 

the road was so bad that it required two to be with the 
waggon ; so we started at once, doing it in one day. We 
found it to be a small place, consisting of three houses, where 
the overland stage changed horses and the passengers had a 
meal; and while I was there the stage arrived, when I was 
very much astonished by the driver's jumping down and 
shaking me by both hands. He was so wrapped up in furs that 
for some seconds I did not recognize him, but on his removing 
his cap I saw that it was Ben my old driver, who went with 
me on my first trip to the Republican River. He was very 
glad to see me, and offered to leave the stage company and go 
with me, but I was on my way to Sheyenne and had no usj 
for him, so we had a drink together and parted. 



STAGE DKIVEKS. 255 

These stage drivers had a very hard life, though they were 
well paid, getting from twelve to fifteen pounds a month. 
They had to drive in all weathers, and were given in many 
cases unbroken horses, which they had to keep straight over 
roads which would frighten a European coachman — full of 
holes and stumps, and in wet weather halfway to the axle in 
mud ; while the bridges were merely trees laid across the 
streams with poles placed side by side across them, only one in 
ten or twelve being pegged at the end, and with no rail of any 
kind, the poles jumping about as the coach passed over 
them, and looking as if the whole thing was going to pieces. 
It was very trying to the nerves to sit on the box-seat of one 
of these stages and turn a corner at a gallop to find a chasm 
before you bridged as I have described, everything depending 
on the coachman's keeping his wild team in the middle. Also 
many of the stage routes were through a part of the country 
where there was always a chance of attack by Indians, the 
driver and conductor having rifles beside them and revolvers 
in their belts, as it was by no means uncommon for every soul 
on the stage to be murdered and scalped. Many of these 
drivers were very good fellows, who if they took a fancy would 
keep you amused the whole journey by stories of the different 
oddities they had carried and the adventures they had gone 
through, while if they got hold of a " tenderfoot " the amount 
of information they would give him must have very much 
astonished his friends on his return home. There were very 
few accidents considering there was a coach every day, as the 
men were splendid whips, though their way of holding their 
reins would astonish a member of the " Four-in-Hand Club." 

From Virginia Dale F started off into the mountains, 



256 ABUNDANCE OF ANTELOPE. 

riding my mare and packing a waggon-horse, and I left for 
Sheyenne the same day, riding " Henry " and putting my bundle 
on the second horse of our team. I was three days going in, 
having stopped occasionally to stalk some antelopes. I never 
saw so many as on that ride, several bands being continually 
in sight; they seemed very tame, letting you ride up to 
within a hundred and fifty yards of them. I got two in one 
stalk, having crawled to within seventy yards of them, and 
later the same day I tried " Henry's " speed after them as the 
plain was level for miles. I tied up the pack-horse to a bush, 
and by riding down a hollow I managed to get near a single 
buck, running him for fully three miles, and being as far 
behind then as when I started. Henry was very game, as he 
was thorough-bred, but his action was far too high to be fast, 
and " Polly " could have run away from him easily. 

On my way I overtook some miners from the mountains, 

about eighty miles north of where F and I had been. 

They had done well, but had had a good deal of trouble from 
Indians during the summer, having had all their horses run off, 
so that they were obliged to send in to Sheyenne to buy ponies 
before they could leave. None of this present party had ever 
seen that place, so I was able to give them a few hints, for it 
was necessary to be careful as they had several thousand 
pounds with them in dust. They were on their way to Iowa, 
where they had left their families, and said they would take 
the train at once and only remain one night to sell their 
animals. Many a train has been stopped by " road agents t 
for a less sum than they had with them ; and I know of a case 
where three of them had emptied the pockets of everyone in a 
long train and not a shot was fired at them, so much terror 



REACH SHEYENNE. 257 

can three desperate men inspire ; I have, too, seen a' noted 
desperado overawe a whole room full of men who looked as bad 
as himself, daring anyone among them to say a word, when no 
one opened his lips. 

On reaching Sheyenne I put " Henry " in a livery stable, 
selling the other horse at once, as he would have eaten more 
than his value at eight shillings a day, and I went myself to 
Mr. Grildersleeve's once more, managing to get a bed to myself 
by saying that I had a fever, which though not very dangerous 
might be troublesome to anyone who caught it. If I had not 
made some such excuse I should have been accused of putting 
on airs, and there would have been trouble. 

The town had grown very much during the last three months, 
and now contained about five thousand inhabitants ; but its 
moral character had not improved, and a vigilance committee 
had just been formed. This was a necessity in such places, 
and at first did a great deal of good, the regular police being a 
farce; but gradually abuses crept in, many joining the committee 
in order that they might denounce some man against whom they 
had a grudge, and there is no doubt that a number of innocent 
men were hung in this way, as very little proof of guilt was 
necessary, the trial sometimes not lasting more than ten minutes, 
the supposition being that a man was guilty unless he could 
-prove himself to be innocent. 

I fonnd the elections for mayor and town council going 
on, and was nrged by some men at the hotel to vote, as 
I possessed the only necessary qualification — that is, having 
been three months in the territory. Our landlord was 
the respectable candidate, the popular one being a Colonel 
Johnson, an ex-prize-fighter and owner of one of the largest 

s 



258 ELECTION EOR MAYOR. 

saloons. The poll was to be open only one day, and I found 
that every decent man who went there to vote for our candi- 
date returned without having been able to do so and more or 
less battered. The gamblers were managing everything, being 
to a man Johnsonians, so I got a ticket for both, one of 
them being blue and the other yellow, the blue being for 
our man ; so putting this in my pocket and nourishing the 
yellow one in my right hand I went down to where the poll 
was being held. Here among the gamblers I found several of 
my " old friends " from St. Joe, who immediately shook hands 
cordially and asked if they could do anything for me, on which 
I said I wanted to vote, allowing them to see my yellow ticket, 
but that I was afraid one was liable to meet with rough treat- 
ment in doing so. They assured me, however, that with them 
there was nothing to fear, and they passed me with the greatest 
ease through a very rough mob to the entrance to a narrow 
passage between two rails, at the end of which was a small 
window where the tickets had to be handed in, and on 
reaching this I passed in my blue ticket and at once left for 
the hotel, not waiting to see " my friends " again. I was 
congratulated on being one of the very few supporters of our 
host who had returned in a sound state. As it turned out, all 
my strategy was wasted, as Colonel Johnson was returned by 
a large majority, and I had the pleasure of seeing him driving 
round the town that evening in a carriage drawn by six horses, 
with a barrel of whiskey on the front seat, from which he 
dispensed freely to all comers. 

My ague was no better in Sheyenne than it had been in 
camp, returning every morning about ten o'clock and making 
me so weak that I was fit for nothing, and this induced an 



AN UNPLEASANT NEIGHBOUR. 259 

Irishman, whose name was Fox and who occupied the next bed 
to mine, to abuse Englishmen in every possible way. This man 
had been a miner in Montana, but had done something there 
which had caused him to be hunted out of the country. What 
it was I never heard, but it must have been something very 
bad, for it was always said that (c a man who was not fit for 
Montana could only go to one other place/' which I need not 
mention. 

Now I had heard Fox say that there was nothing of which 
he had so great a horror as of finding any animal in his bed, 
declaring that if he found a skunk there, as a comrade of his 
had once done, he thought he should go mad. Owing him a 
grudge as I did, I determined that he should have the chance. 
I had made myself a wolf-skin cap when in the mountains, 
with the tail hanging down behind, which had always been too 
hot to wear and was of no use to me, so going to bed early 
one night I put the cap in Fox's bed, knowing that as the house 
was not full at the time he would have one to himself. I also 
fastened a string to the lower corner of his bed-clothes, 
bringing it down through a small staple which I had driven 
into the floor in such a way as to make it appear that the bed- 
clothes had been drawn off from the opposite end of the room. 
He came up very late that night, more than twenty men being 
in bed and asleep before he arrived. It only took him about 
three minutes to undress, when he put out his candle and 
jumped into bed. An awful yell followed by another 
immediately resounded through the room, and though he had 
a game leg and was lame in consequence, he was out of bed 
with one leap, pulling out two revolvers which were under his 

pillow (for in that room everyone had at least one with him) 

s2 



260 A PRACTICAL JOKE. 

and declared that there was some wild animal in his bed and 
that he meant to fire at it. On this the men in the other part of 
the room, who had been awakened by the yells, said that if he 
did they wonld fire at him, as it would probably bring up the 
vigilance committee. One of them then jumped out and drew 
down the bed-clothes exposing the' cap. Fox's rage was 
awful, and he swore that if he could find out the man •who 
had put it there he would shoot him " on sight." I naturally 
did not inform him who it was, and no one else knew, so he 
got into bed again using awful language. I let him lie about 
half an hour, when I pulled the string and off came his . bed- 
clothes, the string coming away in my hands as I intended it 
should. He sat up and gasped for breath, speechless with rage, 
but when he found his voice my pen cannot do justice to his 
language. I of course pretended to sleep through it all, and was 
not suspected even when I asked him if he had not had rather 
a disturbed night, as I fancied I heard some sounds coming 
from the direction of his bed during the night. He glared at 
me for a moment, but as I kept my countenance he walked off 
with an oath. 

While I was in the town two Englishmen arrived, on their 
way to California, and as they were quiet well-behaved men 
we got to be very friendly, the occupants of the other beds 
being such a rough lot, so we used to lie awake talking till far 
into the night. One of these two men had been a prize- 
fighter who had made money and now meant to go into 
business in San Francisco. They proposed one evening that 
we should go round and see the sights, promising to stand by 
me should there be any need for it. So we first of all visited 
one of the gambling-dens, which we found so full of smoke that 



LIFE IN SHEYENNE. 261 

we could hardly see anything. There were about seventy or 
eighty men in it, about half of whom were playing, chiefly at 
faro, rouge et noir, and roulette, the stakes being principally 
silver with a sprinkling of gold pieces. It was early in the 
evening, so that there was no one drunk and not much noise, 
but a man to whom we spoke told us to return about 
eleven o' clock if we wished to see the fun. In the back room 
was a young girl doing five hundred miles in five hundred hours 
and looking wonderfully fresh, though she was supposed to have 
done more than half that distance — the truth being that it was 
the public who were being done and not the distance, as in the 
instance I have before mentioned. We then visited a dance- 
house, where there were three females, two of whom were 
smoking cigars, and you had to pay half a dollar to dance 
round the room with one of them, standing drinks afterwards. 
The room, which was a very long one, was full, a small space 
being reserved at one end for the dancing, the music for which 
was a street organ. 

I was told a story of one of these places soon after Sheyenne 
was started, which my informant declared he had witnessed, 
but for the truth of which I will not vouch. He said that he 
was standing near the bar in a dance-house talking to a chance 
acquaintance, when a drunken man got on the bar and 
began shouting and brandishing a revolver, swearing that he 
would shoot the first man who refused to drink with him, on 
which the man to whom my informant was speaking stopped 
in the middle of a sentence, drew a revolver and shot the 
man dead, merely saying l< that he might have hurt some one/' 
and then finished his sentence. 

Certainly human life was thought very little of in such 



262 THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE. 

places as Julesburg and Sheyenne, and often when I have heard 
shots in the street as we sat round the stove in the evening, 
and I have got up to go and see what was going on, some one 
would say " It's only some poor devil gone under ; sit still 
unless you wish to follow him." On several occasions the 
vigilance committee turned out and went by the hotel in a 
double line, filling the street and arresting all they met, each 
man wearing a black half -mask and carrying a revolver in his 
right hand, and it was wonderful how soon the streets cleared 
in front of them, even drunken men seeming to become sober 
at once. One morning I was awakened by hearing a good 
deal of talking downstairs, and on going to see what it was I 
found that everyone was looking at the bodies of four men 
which were hanging from telegraph-poles within sight of the 
house, having been tried, condemned, and executed by the 
vigilance committee during the night. While I was there they 
put a man against a telegraph-pole telling him they were going 
to shoot him, firing really only blank cartridge, but he was 
found to be dead from fright. 

Among the men hung in Sheyenne was a noted desperado 
named Hughes, who was supposed to have murdered five 
or six men, and whose wife was as bad as himself; so after 
hanging him they gave her twenty-four hours' notice to leave 
the town, telling her that she would be hung if found there 
after that time. I heard of this, and also that she was 
going by the next train, so I went down to see her off. 
A great crowd had assembled for the same purpose, and 
when she appeared she was mobbed, most of the men seem- 
ing to admire her pluck. She was driven to the station in 
a carriage (as the line was now open to Sheyenne and was 



JOE RILEY. 263 

most elaborately got up and wore a great deal of jewelry. 
The men crowded round to shake hands, and she joked and 
laughed with them as if she was going to a ball. After 
getting into the train she alternately cursed the vigilance 
committee and sang snatches of comic songs, and was kissing 
her hand as the train disappeared round a curve ; and yet 
this woman had acted as a decoy for her husband and had 
been the cause of, if she had not actually witnessed, several 
murders. 

One of the quietest men in the hotel was a prize-fighter 
named "Joe Riley/' who was training to fight for the 
championship of Montana. He was an Irishman but not a 
Fenian, and had seen better days, his people having been 
well off. After trying many things and failing he had become 
what he was, and had won several fights. He and I used often 
to sit up and talk by the stove when everyone had gone to bed ; 
and we were there one night when some one knocked violently 
at the door, which stood at the top of three wooden small steps. 
Riley asked who it was, on which a voice answered that it was 
some fellows who wanted whiskey, though it was evident that 
they had had too much already. Riley told them that the bar 
was closed and that no more could be had that night, but as the 
knocking still continued he opened the door, when three men, 
all more or less drunk, attempted to come in ; Riley, however, 
prevented their doing so, saying that they must go away, and 
on their asking who would make them do so, he replied that 
he would. One of them then made a rush at him, but was met 
by a right-hander in the face, knocking him into the road, the 
second going down on the top of him, on which they made off, 
not daring to use ' their pistols, as it was only a day or two 



264 A RAILWAY QUICKLY MADE. 

after the four men had been hung, which quieted the town 
wonderfully for a time. 

While I was at Sheyenne a ten-mile race was got up between 
a prairie-bred mare and a thoroughbred, as he was called, 
belonging to some gamblers, and I went to see it. The 
gambler's horse was certainly not thoroughbred, though a 
good-looking animal, and the mare was a nice pony somewhat 
bigger than ci Polly. " 

There was a great deal of betting, a crowd of gamblers 
backing their companion's horse, and a good deal of quarrelling 
as to weights, the gamblers having got a boy from the east, 
while the owner of the mare, who was a big man, rode her 
himself. In spite of this the mare led nearly all the way, being 
only beaten in the last mile. There were many attempts made 
to induce me to run my stallion ; but even if he had been fast 
enough, which he was not, I should not have had fair play, as 
they would have thought nothing of giving him a dose before 
the race. 

I had an opportunity of seeing how quickly railways are 
made in Western America before I left. A branch line 
was wanted from Sheyenne to Fort William Russell, so they 
offered the men who were working on the main line extra pay 
if they would work on a Sunday. The distance was three miles, 
and they began it on Sunday morning and had some freight 
cars at the fort by nightfall; the ties in most cases were 
laid on the grass, a few shovelfuls of earth being put under 
them when necessary. It was in this way that the Central 
Pacific Railway was made at first, to get the subsidy from the 
government, and of course when the storms came most of them 
gave way and had to be remade. 



LEAVE FOR ENGLAND. 265 

Just after Christmas I received letters which made it 
necessary for me to go east, so I had to give up my intention 

of joining F in the mountains, where he remained till 

early in the spring, killing as many deer as he wanted and a 
fair number of elk, and then he returned south and I went 
back to England. I sold iC Polly " to him; but it grieved me 
very much to part with her, as I felt I was parting with an 
old friend. 



266 GROUSE-SHOOTING. 



CHAPTER XX. 

I intend to go up the Wichita and Eed Rivers. — Grouse-shooting. — Creasing 
a horse. — Poor settlers. — A money-lending parson. — Danger of Mexican 
cooks. — Henrietta in 1874. — A norther. — Rough cowboys. — Lose my 
horse. — Return towards Henrietta. — Indians about. — A suspicious horse- 
man. — Reach Henrietta. The settlement raided by Black Kettle. The 
settlers cowed. — A preacher. The preacher and I put up in the same 
room. The first night he scores ; the secoud I do. — Life of a cowboy. A 
new class of cowboy. A gentleman cowboy. — A good shooting-ground. 
— I shoot a puma. — A lucky sportsman. 

Hearing from my friend F , who was then living in 

Texas, that the game had very much increased since I was 
there last, I started for Denison in 1874 for a trip on the 
Wichita and Red Rivers, intending to remain out until 
Christmas. On the way there, going by St. Louis, Sedalia, 
and Sherman, I stopped at Parsons and had two days' capital 
grouse-shooting, they at all events being much more numerous 
than I had ever seen them in those parts. It is very curious 
with reference to these birds, that you can very seldom find 
them in uncultivated portions of the West, but as soon as 
settlers come and plant crops the grouse appear at once and 
get more and more plentiful. I have found a few, when after 



CREASING A HORSE. 267 

big game, in wild parts of Montana and Idaho, but not enough 
to make it worth while to take a shot gun ; and as in those 
parts they live during the shooting-season on rosebuds, they 
taste very strongly of them and are not worth killing. I got 
more than sixty brace to my own gun at Parsons in a day and 
a half, besides a few snipe and ducks. Half a day's travelling 
from there landed me at Denison, which I found to be a very 
dull little wooden town, with a wretched inn, where the arrival 

of a stranger was an event. F was waiting for me, and 

we at once set about buying our outfit. We got a two-horse 
waggon, a tent, two work-horses, and the necessary provisions, 
beside engaging a Mexican as cook, leaving the buying of 
riding-horses till we got further into the country, as they were 

much cheaper there than near the railway. F was already 

provided with a good hunting-pony, and soon after leaving 
Denison I bought a horse with a history. He had been ridden 
by a scout in a fight with the Comanches, where his master 
had been killed, and he had been u creased/' as it is called, 
the ball striking the upper edge of the shoulder — a wound 
which temporarily paralyses a horse. It was in this way that 
a great many wild horses were captured before the country 
was settled, and the shot required a first-rate marksman, as if 
half an inch too low the animal was killed or mined for life. 
About forty miles from Denison we came to a small place 
called Whites boro' , where I bought a mare out of a waggon, 
which proved to be an excellent animal in every way. 

The settlers in this part of the country struck me as being 
the poorest and most miserable of any we had come across ; 
no one seemed to have any money, and nearly all of them 
were very much in debt, having borrowed in many cases at 



268 MEXICAN COOKS. 

sixty per cent. I met a parson riding along the road one day, 
and getting into conversation with him, I happened to say how 
sorry I was for the poor men who had to do this, and what 
horrible usurers I thought those men were who had asked such 
exorbitant interest, when he turned to me quite fiercely and 
said that he could not see it, that a man had a right to make 
all he could of his money; it was optional with the borrower 
whether he took it or not, adding that he had lent some money 
himself at that rate. 

From Whitesboro' we drove through a pretty country to 
Gainsville, a very nice little town built on the Mexican plan 
round a plaza, as it was a quiet place. There was quite a stir 
about the time we arrived over a shooting affray which had 
just taken place. A man who went by the name of " California 
Joe " had shot a man in broad daylight in the plaza and had 
ridden off, no one trying to stop him, as he had the character 
of being a reckless desperado. 

We were obliged to send our Mexican cook back from here, 
replacing him by an American. He was very dirty, like 
most of his countrymen, and objected to washing our dishes 
more than once a day, considering a scrape good enough for 
the other two meals. There was a stage from Gainsville to 
Denison, and by this he returned, telling the people there on 
his arrival that he had left us because we put on too many 
airs. We had heard on our way of another hunting-party, 
consisting of five Texans, who had also engaged a Mexican as 
cook, and as they were very much dissatisfied with him, they 
had at first found fault with and afterwards struck him. The 
man did nothing at the time, but one day two of the party 
went shooting by themselves, and found on their return that 



HENKIETTA IN 1874. 269 

their three companions had been murdered with an axe by the 
Mexican, who left a written statement of his reasons for doing 
it. We had been wise in getting rid of our cook when we did, 
for the Mexicans are a revengeful and treacherous race, and if 
any of us had struck him we might have met with the same fate. 

From Gainsville we set out for Henrietta, a very small 
settlement not far from where Fort Buffalo springs used to be, 
on the Little Wichita River. On the way my rifle fell out of 
the waggon and remained nearly a day on the road; how- 
ever, fortunately no one came along the road, and we found 
it when we went back to look for it. Henrietta was then a 
place of a dozen small cabins, placed in two lines facing one 
another, on the bare prairie, and about two hundred yards from 
the river. The principal man, who was always spoken of as 
Judge Johnson (I am sure I do not know why, for he was the 
postmaster and had never been a lawyer), had a long talk to 
us about our trip, and tried to persuade us to give it up by 
telling us that the Indians, chiefly Sheyennes and Arrapahoes, 
were very bad just then, and that they fully expected that the 
settlement would be attacked before long. A party who had 
been out ' ' skin hunting " had lately come in with several of 
the men wounded and their waggon riddled with bullets. We 
had heard this kind of thing so often before that we did not 
take much notice of it, generally finding any Indian news to 
be very much exaggerated, if not entirely untrue. 

Our first day out from Henrietta we camped on the bank of 
a small stream away from any bushes, partly as being a better 
position, in case Indians should take it into their heads to 
attack us, and partly as low ground means ague in Texas, and we 
had both of us had enough of that. During the night a norther 



270 KOUGH COWBOYS. 

began, and if we had not gone out at once and held the two 
corners of the tent on the side from which it came, it would 
have been blown to pieces. We were in bed when it began, 
and had only time to jump into our trowsers, so that in these 
and a flannel shirt we had to sit for hours holding on with all 
our strength, and we were quite worn out and nearly frozen by 
morning. 

The following day we passed a cattle-ranche, one of the first 
which had been started in Texas, the cattle having been allowed 
up to this time to range anywhere, with no cowboys to keep 
them within certain bounds. These first cowboys were very 
rough fellows, being in many cases men who had to disappear 
for a time, yet they were kind-hearted and hospitable, and 
would give a passing stranger anything he wanted, or shoot 
him, should a quarrel arise, with equal pleasure. There were 
four men at this ranche, which consisted of a square house of 
logs and a corral for cattle, with no attempt at a garden or 
field. They told us that they had seen some Indians in the 
distance a few days before, and that they were not going to 
venture far from the ranche for some time, — Black Kettle"*, a 
noted Sheyenne chief, being in that part of the country with 
a hundred warriors. 

At our next camp we found a good deal of game — deer and 
turkeys, — so we remained some days, when my " creased horse " 
being missing, I borrowed a pony from a cow-ranche, a short 
distance from our camp, and rode towards Henrietta, supposing 



and who was killed by General Custer's troops at the battle on the Little 
Wichita River in 1868, but was another chief, who probably took the 
deceased chief's name after his death. 



A SUSPICIOUS HOESEMAN. 271 

that in all probability my horse had gone back there. The 
pony I had borrowed was foundered from too hard work and 
conld only raise a slow canter, going as if his legs were 
wooden and had no joints. As I passed the first ranche we 
had come to, I found all the cowboys in it and their horses in 
the corral. They told me that the evening before they had been 
ont rounding up some cattle, when they were run in by about 
forty Indians, and had got in only just in time. Fortunately 
these southern Indians never dismount to fight, so that they 
were safe when once inside. It was not probable that the 
Indians would hang about in the neighbourhood, as they 
would know that the cowboys would not leave the ranche, so I 
determined to go on, and saw nothing but some antelope, till 
about five o'clock, when it was getting dark, and then I 
discovered a man riding along the top of a parallel ridge to the 
one I was on. It was too dark to see whether he was an Indian 
or a white man, so I hailed him several times but got no 
answer, and as I expected to have to camp out, Henrietta being 
still some miles away, I fired two shots at him, aiming very 
high, my double rifle being only sighted for two hundred 
yards, and the distance appeared to be far more than that. 
He at once disappeared, riding, I presume, down the other side 
of the ridge. This made me feel rather uncomfortable about 
camping out, so I determined to reach Henrietta that night if 
possible, and I blundered on, my pony nearly coming down 
over every inequality in the ground, till long after dark, when 
finding that I was lost I camped in some brush, without any 
water, made a miserable supper of some crackers, and turned in, 
having nothing but an old saddle-blanket for covering and not 
daring to light a fire. Before daylight I was o£P again and 



272 A PKEACHER. 

luckily struck the Wichita a few miles below Henrietta, and 
reached that place about ten in the morning. Here I found 
everything in confusion : Black Kettle and his warriors had 
passed through the place, hooting and yelling, two nights 
before, and had carried off every head of stock of all kinds, 
and even all the poultry, no one daring to fire at them. When 
we were there before, we had met a much-got-up individual, 
who was loud about what he would do if the Indians came 
there^ giving us a great deal of advice about how we should act 
if attacked, and yet this man was one of the first to advise 
no shots being fired at these Indians when they did come for 
fear of provoking them. One of the settlers borrowed my 
pony to follow the trail a little way, to see if he could pick up 
any strayed animals, but he could not have gone far as he was 
back in an hour. 

A preacher had arrived on the day of the Indian raid, and 
a meeting was held that afternoon. I attended, of course, and 
listened to his sermon for more than an hour, when, not being 
able to stand it any longer, I went out, as the man made me 
laugh by using long words the meaning of which he was quite 
ignorant of, and putting them in the wrong places. When the 
service was over he gave me a long lecture for having gone 
away, and it was a little difficult explaining ^why I had done so, 
without hurting his feelings. He told me his pony had been 
carried off with the rest, and that he was getting up a 
subscription to buy another, and he hoped I would give 
liberally. I replied that I meant to give a sum to Judge 
Johnson for the poorest of the settlers, many of whom were 
utterly ruined by the loss of their stock, and that I thought 
that as he had a salary of twelve hundred dollars (£240) he 



HE SCORES A POINT. 273 

could afford to buy himself another pony, on which he left me 
in a rage. 

Finding that my horse had not come into the settlement, and 
thinking that the Indians had probably got him, I determined 
to wait for the mail, which was expected the next day, and 
then go back to camp. When night came, Judge Johnson 
told me that he had been obliged to put me with the parson 
in a lean-to (which he, by the way, called a room) . This was 
at the back of his cabin, and had apertures for doors and 
windows ; the bed was made of four forked sticks, over which 
were laid a number of small ones and some grass, and two single 
blankets were spread on the top of this. I had inspected it, 
and not being very favourably impressed with its comfort, I sat 
talking to the Judge till long after his family had gone to bed ; 
and when I did go to my quarters I found the preacher already 
asleep and with about two thirds of both blankets round him, 
leaving me so little that, though I lay as close to him as 
I could, my back was all uncovered. Finding it very cold, I 
asked him if he had not more than his share, on which he 
replied that he had barely enough and wished me "good- 
night/"' an impossibility under the circumstances. I managed 
to get through it somehow by continually turning and warming 
one side and then the other against him, and was thankful when 
the morning came. 

The mail did not arrive the next day, so I passed my time in 
going round among the cabins listening to the very curious 
experiences of their owners. Some of the occupants had known 
a great many ups and downs, the latter predominating. Most 
of them, coming from the east, had had no experience of 
Indians, and were thinking of moving back towards the 



274 I RETALIATE. 

Mississippi once more,, as they were much frightened by Black 
Kettle's raid. They told me that he had some two hundred 
men with him, and that they came close to the cabins, in some 
cases breaking the glass in the windows with their guns and 
tiring into the houses; and that one man, having put up a 
small fowl-house, in which all his chickens were shut up at 
night, had had it robbed by one of the Indians, who had taken 
the fowls and had tied them to his saddle. I think the number 
of Indians must have been exaggerated, as Black Kettle, I 
heard later, had only one hundred warriors with him. In the 
confusion of a night attack it was easy to see double. 

I went to bed early that night, the preacher not having yet 
come home ; but about an hour afterwards he arrived, and was 
much put out at finding me already in bed. He made up 
the fire, though this did very little good in a place with three 
big holes in it, and not yet chinked, and then he turned in, 
merely taking off his coat and boots. He soon found, as I had 
done the night before, that the blankets were too narrow, as I 
had taken a liberal allowance and put it well under me ; so he 
pulled, but could get no more ; he then asked if I thought he 
could sleep under so little, when I reminded him that I had 
said much the same thing the night before. He was quiet for 
a time and then began again, asking me if I thought it right 
to make a preacher pass the night in such a manner, on which 
I said that I had always thought that a pastor should help his 
flock, but had discovered my mistake the night before. He 
then got up and sat by the fire on a three-legged stool, and 
there he remained until the morning, when he would not speak 
to me. 

The mail came in early the next day, bringing some letters 



A GENTLEMAN COWBOY. 275 

for us, and I left for camp about mid-day and reached the first 
ranche by evening. I found that they had seen no more 
Indians, but they had remained in most of the time. They 
were inclined to think that the man I bad seen was an 
Indian out hunting by himself and that I might have hit him, 
but the distance was so great that I do not think I did. 

The cowboys led a very hard life in those days, their food 
being only meat, bread, and coffee, whereas now they have 
tinned vegetables, fruits, jams, and all kinds of luxuries. The 
class of man, too, has changed, as there are now many 
gentlemen among them of good families, learning the business 
before setting up for themselves. I remember once in Dacotah, 
when out after deer, meeting a rough-looking cowboy, to 
whom I spoke a few words, and then, as we were both going 
in the same direction, we rode side by side for some time 
without speaking. It was a very hot day, and he suddenly 
said, e: Would not some iced champagne-cup be nice noAV ? " 
and on my looking hard at him, he said, " You seem to think 
that I have never tasted it, but, indeed, I have very often. I 
lived in South Kensington once, and went about in a stove- 
pipe hat and a frock coat/' Yet here he was looking as rough 
as any of his companions. 

I left the ranche early and was in camp by nightfall, where 
I found my horse ; he had strayed off and wound up his rope in 
a thicket, where the men had discovered him. The next day 
we moved to Buffalo Creek, and had a great deal of trouble 
in getting there on account of streams with high banks 
having to be crossed. We found this place the best we were 

ever in for deer and turkeys. F and I in less than two 

hours shot nineteen turkeys, and the cook actually shot one 



276 SHOOT A puma : 

while sitting by the camp-fire. Of course we should not 
have killed so many, but each of us thought he was having all 
the sport to himself. 

I was out one day, some miles up the stream, when I came 
on a fine buck feeding; I managed to dismount and tie up 
without his seeing me, and keeping in the timber as far as I 
could, I then began to crawl, getting to within about three 
hundred yards of him, when something startled him and he 
cantered round a point of timber. As he did not seem much 
frightened I followed as fast as I was able, and crawling round 
the point I could not see the deer, but noticed a small head 
with pointed ears above some long grass, watching me. I 
thought it must be a wolf, so, determined to have something 
for my trouble, I fired, aiming under it, and the head sank and 
a long tail lashed backwards and forwards as I walked up, and 
on getting close I saw that I had killed a medium-sized puma, 
the first that I had ever seen. It is curious, considering that 
there are a good many of them about, how seldom you see 
them, though you often find their tracks, and where they have 
been at the carcass of a deer you may have killed. 

I heard of a shopkeeper from Antonio, in Texas, who came 
out to a large hay camp, about forty miles north of that place, 
and who borrowed a soldier's rifle thinking that he might get a 
shot at a deer, having never killed anything larger than a goose 
in his life. He was away some hours and returned in a great 
state of excitement, saying that he had killed two big animals 
as large as calves, and when some of the men went with him 
to see what these were, they found that he had shot two 
pumas — such a chance as might not occur to a professional 
hunter once in his whole life. 



GETTING HIM HOME. 277 

As I might never kill another, I was very anxious to get this 
one to camp and skin him there ; so I tried to hoist him on to 
the mare, but the thing was like a big cat — so limp that when 
I got it up on one side it fell off the other. The skin was so 
loose that it was very difficult to get a good hold of it, so I 
had to think of some other way. I could have hauled it to 
camp tied to my horse's tail, as I had often done with deer, 
but that would utterly ruin the skin, so I first of all hoisted it 
up with my lariat to a bough about ten feet above me, and then 
riding under the bough I gradually lowered the body on to the 
back of the mare, sitting with my face to the tail, and after 
binding it firmly to the saddle I tied the fore and hind feet to 
the stirrups, and by keeping my legs very stiff and my feet 
much further out than is usual, I managed to get it to camp. I 
supposed it weighed about two hundred pounds, and the skin 
measured ten feet from the nose to the tip of the tail when 
stretched nearly square. I saw a much finer one than this 
when in British Columbia, which had been killed by an Indian, 
but it had been very badly skinned and stretched. Mine was 
a light fawn-colour, whereas his was nearly black, shading off 
to fawn. Pumas have a most unpleasant cry, which very much 
resembles that of some one in agony ; and there are stories of 
these animals springing on passers by from a tree, but I could 
not get one of them well authenticated, and do not believe 
them. 



278 AWFUL THUNDER-STORMS. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Camp on Buffalo Creek. — Awful thunder-storms. — Two cowboys visit our 
camp. We return the visit. — Description of a "shack." — Stories of 
attacks "by Indians.— A buck-jumper. — A curious shot. — A refractory 
mare. — Loss of a horse. — A herd of wild horses. Old Bridger's opinion 
of them. — Camp nearly destroyed by fire. — Poisoning wild animals. 
— A ghost story. 

I do not think that we ever lived better in any camp than that 
on Buffalo Creek. Turkeys were so plentiful that we only ate 
the choice parts, feeding our dogs with the remainder. We 
had as much venison as we wanted, besides ducks and grouse — 
our only trouble being to dispose of all the game we got, as we 
never let any spoil if we could help it. 

One night we had a succession of the most awful thunder- 
storms I ever saw. Our horses were used to living in the open 
air, and yet on this occasion they were so frightened that if we 
had not gone out and held them, they would have broken 
loose and have been lost. It would have been an amusing 
sight for a spectator i£ he could have seen us, in the light 
costume of a hat and a pair of boots, holding on to the horses 
in a pelting rain, and being dragged in all directions by them, 



COWBOYS PAY US A VISIT, 279 

and frequently taken off our feet, while, from not being able 
to see, we were very mucli knocked about by their knees. 
The storms came up one after another, barely giving us time 
to get into bed and warm ourselves before another began, and 
out we had to go again. 

When we had been in this camp about three weeks two cow- 
boys arrived from a small ranche twelve miles down the creek ; 
and very rough specimens they were, as water with them was 
looked upon as a superfluous luxury, and their clothes were 
polished with grease and blood. They told us that about a 
month before one of their companions had been out after 
strayed cattle, when some Indians chased him. He seemed to 
lose his head, forgetting that he had a rifle and revolver, and 
only tried to get away. They went out from the ranche when 
they saw him coming, but were too late to help him, as almost 
immediately the Indians overtook him and speared him in the 
back, throwing him from his horse, when they scalped and 

mutilated him. One of these men had seen F . from a 

distance one day, and not knowing of our being in the country 
had gone back to report having seen an Indian, after which 
they kept to the ranche for several days. They had, however, 
come across our waggon-trail, and had then known that we 
must be white men, so they had come out to visit us. They 
remained for a meal, and were astonished at the cooking, 
everything they ate being boiled in a camp-kettle, and all 
tasting alike. A day or two later we returned the visit, taking 
our blankets, as we meant to remain out a day or two and try 
the other end of the creek for game. A ride of two hours 
brought us to the "shack," as that kind of house is called, 
the plan being as follows : — 



280 BUILDING A " SHACK." 

You first find a sloping bank, out of which you cut an oblong 
space as large as you wish the inside of the house to be : it is 
open in front, has sloping sides, and the back is some ten feet 
high. You then build the front of logs, making it two feet 
lower than the back, and fill in the ends either with logs or 
earth. The door and windows are then cut out, and a roof of 
poles, grass, and mud is put on, and your shack is complete, 
only requiring the floor to be stamped down to be ready for 
use. Sometimes a chimney is made ; but in many in which I 
have stayed the fire was lighted in one corner, and the smoke 
found its way out by a hole in the roof. The spaces between 
the logs are daubed with clay to keep out the cold ; and with 
a good fire these shacks are very comfortable, when your eyes 
get used to the smoke. 

This shack was a small and very dirty one, and contained a 
"boss/" or manager, and four boys. The food was chiefly 
boiled beef cut up in lumps, as they had not much time for 
hunting, and had driven most of the game away by firing at 
everything they saw. They were a very rough set, and their 
conversation was dreadfully monotonous, being almost entirely 
about beef, its price in the market, and the best way to get it 
there — the whole being seasoned with very strong language. 
There were some stories, too, of Indian atrocities, several cow- 
boys having been killed lately, though no ranche had been 
attacked. The Sioux will sometimes dismount to crawl up to 
a house at night and fire into it ; but none of them have been 
known to do so in the daytime ; and I heard here of a ranche- 
man's wife having kept off nearly twenty Indians by usiug her 
husband's repeater through the windows of the cabin, though 
they knew her to be alone. 



A BUCK-JUMPER. 281 

Every cowboy rode with a Winchester carbine in a sheath on 
the off side of the saddle, where it could be grasped in a 
moment, and all of them had one or more revolvers. The 
man who had been speared was armed in this way ; but they 
said that he was a new hand, and only lately from the east, 
and consequently lost his head. We remained the night, and 
in the morning the " boss " told us that we should witness some 
fun with one of the worst buck -jumpers he had ever come across ; 
so we went out to see him mounted. The horse was a small 
chestnut, about fourteen hands high, with a very wicked eye ; 
but he came up quietly to have the saddle put on, and we were 
afraid that there would be no fun that morning ; but we were 
mistaken ; for, almost before his rider was in the saddle, he 
began putting his head between his fore legs, arching his back, 
and jumping stiff-legged, going up with his head one way and 
coming down with it the other, turning half round in the air. 
The cowboy used his spurs well and forced him up the bank 
out of which the shack was cut ; but he came down again, 
bucking all the way, turning round even when coming down 
the steep slope. His rider sat splendidly, not seeming to mind 
it at all, sending him up twice only to return immediately ; 
but the third time, with all the boys shouting and using their 
whips, he went up with a rush and galloped off. 

We tried the country round the ranche, but saw very little 
game, what there was being very wild; so we returned to camp 
that night, and found that our cook had shot a fine buck while 
sitting by the camp-fire. 

One day, when F and I were out together, F made 

a curious shot. He had stalked a young buck and had fired 
at him at about two hundred yards, not being able to get 



282 A REFRACTORY MARE. 

nearer. The buck was standing almost directly facing him, a 

little on one side., and seemed, when F fired, to go off as 

if hit. We had a dog with ns that day — a young retriever 

which F had brought, thinking he might be useful after 

wounded deer ; so we put him on the buck's trail, which he 
took up at once, going off at a great pace and soon leaving us 
far behind, as we had gone out on foot. We followed as fast 
as we could run, and after going half a mile heard the deer 
bleating, and found it lying on the ground with the dog on 
the top of it, he seeming to think that he must not use his 
teeth. Now the curious part of it was that the ball had broken 
the near front leg off above the knee and the off hind leg above 
the hock, and yet this deer had gone all that distance almost 
as fast as if perfectly sound. This retriever would have made 
a good deer-dog with a little more training, and was the second 
I had seen used for that purpose. The owner of the other 
one refused twenty pounds for him, which is a large price for 
a dog in the west. 

As we had found a good many ducks at some lakes near 
camp, we thought we would have a day's duck-shooting for a 
change ; so I went to fetch the mare to ride to them, and was 
bringing her in when something startled her, and she bolted, 
dragging the rope out of my hands. As she had sixty feet of 
rope on her I thought I should have no trouble in catching her, 

and told F to ride on and that I would overtake him ; but 

she always knew when I was close to the end of the rope, 
trotting a few yards just as I was going to jump on the end of 

it ; so that when F returned, three hours later, there was 

I still chasing the mare, and I only got her at last by driving 
her into some low brush, where she could not judge distance so 






WILD HOESES. 283 

accurately,, and here I managed to tie her up and give her a 
lesson. One of my horses met with a sad fate at this camp. 
We found one morning that he had pulled up his picket-pin 
and had gone off, and the place being a mass of horse-tracks 
we could not trail him up. There was a great deal of heavy 
timber and thick undergrowth round camp, and we hunted this 
carefully, but could find no trace of him ; and it was not until 
some months later that we heard from a cattle-man that one of 
his cowboys, hunting for strayed cattle, had found him tied up 
in some bushes below our camp and nearly dead from starva- 
tion. He had given him food and water ; but it was too late, 
and he died. 

From Buffalo Creek we moved about twenty miles to Beaver 
Creek, arriving there late at night, and for some time could 
not find any grass or water, as the country had been burnt, 

and the only water in the Creek was in muddy pools. F 

and I were riding ahead and had just entered a small grove 
of trees, when out dashed a herd of horses. We at once 
thought we had come across an Indian camp and had stam- 
peded their horses ; so we galloped out into the open, getting 
our rifles ready as we went ; but hearing nothing, and seeing 
that the horses were led by a large roan stallion, we knew that 
they must be a wild band. These were the only wild horses 
I had ever seen during eleven years' wanderings in the west. 
There were a few in Western Texas in 1868, but they were 
not worth catching, and were killed for their skins. I had a 
talk with old Bridger some years before on the subject of 
wild horses, he having lived in the west nearly sixty years; 
and he told me that it generally ruined a good horse to catch 
a wild one, and that when broken most of them lost their 



284 A EIRE IN THE CA.MP. 

spirit" and were worth nothing. A few were captured by 
creasing ; but nearly all of these were of no use afterwards, 
the wound in the spine seeming to have taken all life out 
of them. 

We found Beaver Creek by no means so good a place for 
game as the one we had left. The feed, too, was very bad 
and the water half mud ; so we drove on to the Red River, 
and were surprised to find this large stream utterly undrink- 
able, the water being full of gypsum and causing violent colic, 
though, curiously enough, the horses seemed very fond of it 
and could hardly get enough, standing in it till you were tired 
of waiting for them, and looking afterwards as if they would 
burst. 

While on the Red River we were very nearly losing our 
tent and all in it by fire. When making a camp-fire we usually 
burned a space all round it, the sparks flying in all directions 
and setting fire to the grass ; but as we had camped late, and 
it was very cold, we neglected to take this precaution : 
as the bottom was covered with long grass this caught, and the 
flames spread so rapidly that by the time we got branches to 
beat them out with they were beyond our control ; so we 
rushed to the horses and let them loose, and then, by throwing 
blankets on the fire, which was by this time close to the 
tent, and stamping on them, we managed to save it, the 
flames passing us and burning out the whole bottom below 
us, where we meant to have hunted. It was a grand sight — 
the night being dark — watching the flames, which were fifteen 
and twenty feet high, rushing down the valley, the long 
grass being very dry and burning like tinder; but it might 
very easily have brought the Indians on us, and it put 



POISONING WOLVES. 285 

an end to our hunt in that direction, and obliged us to 
retrace our steps. 

The next morning we moved back to Beaver Creek and there 
met with a very heavy snow-storm, and the wind was so cold 
that we could not travel; so we remained there two days, 
killing one white-tailed deer. Soon after leaving Beaver 
Creek we saw a huge wolf walking very slowly ahead of us, 
having apparently no strength to get away, and on shooting 
him we found that he had been poisoned and was going away 
to die. When I first went to America I took strychnine for 
poisoning wolves ; but after seeing one dying from its effects 
I never used it again. Tl:e r irony must be awful, the animal 
being in the form of a half circle when dead, his back arched, 
while his coat stands on end, and the lips are drawn back, 
showing the teeth. The fur of a trapped animal is worth much 
more than that of a poisoned one, and the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany refuse any which have been killed in that way, as the hair 
is said to come out after the skin is dressed. 

On reaching Buffalo Creek we stopped a few miles above our 
old camp, and once more had capital sport, especially with the 
turkeys. "We remained a few days here and then went on to 
Denison, which we reached in nine days, and [sold all our out- 
fit. When going round to say good-bye to the friends we had 
made we heard a very strange story, which I will give here. 

When we were fitting out at this place in September, we 
had bought some things at a store kept by*two men (a German 
and an Irishman) ; but finding them very rough, every third 
word being an oath, and both of them generally the worse for 
liquor, we had got the remainder of our outfit elsewhere. 
About two months after we left the German died, and when 



286 A GHOST STORY. 

on his death-bed he and his partner had a conversation as to 
whether there was a future state or not, when the German 
said — " If there is one, Bill, I will come back and tell you." 
The man was buried, and the Irishman kept the shop by him- 
self, no change being noticed in him, till what I am going to 
relate happened. The store was a long narrow wooden building, 
the front portion of which was the shop, behind which was a 
railing, and the back portion was used as a bedroom, there 
being a bed in each corner, and a large stove stood just behind 
the middle of the railing, which had talc slides, so as to give 
light as well as heat. The Irishman slept in one of the beds, 
the other being empty, when one night, having been asleep for 
some time, he woke, and looking towards the stove saw what 
looked like a man sitting between himself and it. Knowing 
that he had locked the front door, and wondering how anyone 
could have got in, he sat up in bed, when, as he did so, the 
figure turned round, and he saw that it was his friend the 
German, who looking steadily at him said, " There is a future 
state, Bill ! " and then seemed to fade away. The Irishman 
got out of bed and went to the stove, but found nothing, and 
the doors were both locked and the windows fastened. Our 
informant added that since that night the Irishman had been 
a different man, that he had given up drinking and swearing, 
and conducted himself in every way as a good citizen. So 
ended one of the pleasantest short trips I ever made. The 
country we hunted over is now, I hear, thickly settled and all 
the game killed off; and there are very few places in America 
now where a man can get such sport as we then had. 



TRAVEL WITH COLONEL CLENDENIN. 287 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Resolve to go to the Judith Basin. — Colonel P agrees to accompany 

me. — Start for Carroll. — Delay at Bismarck. — Have some shooting. — < 
Journey by steamer up the Missouri. — Land to hunt every day. — Come 
upon an old hunter. His history and end. — The remaining Indians 
concerned in the Minnesota massacre. — Arrival at Buford. — Freak of 
a lieutenant. — Symonds joins me. — Start with Major Reed for Judith 

Basin. — The ways of Indian agents described. — Join Colonel P in 

camp. — Good news of game. — Adventure with a bear. — Description of 
the Judith Basin. — Hunting mountain-sheep. — Reed and Bowles at 
home. — Visit the Crows' camp. Go with them to meet the Bannocks, 
— Buy a horse from the Bannocks. 

When returning from a duck-shooting trip in Dacotah in the 
winter of 1877, I travelled with a Colonel Clendenin, who had 
spent the summer and autumn at Fort Benton, on the Upper 
Missouri, and was now on his way to "Washington for the 
winter. The conversation turned on sport, and he spoke 
enthusiastically of the beautiful scenery and the great quantity 
of game in a portion of Montana called the Judith Basin, 
lying near the Mussel-shell River, which runs into the 
Yellowstone. I had hunted years before to the north of this 
place, and I retained very pleasant recollections of my trip, so 



288 ARRANGE WITH COLONEL P- 



I determined to return the following year and spend the 
autumn in and about that country. 

Colonel Clendenin told me that he had the management of 
the steamers on the Upper Missouri, and that if I wished he 
would get my outfit for me — horses, waggon, and men — and 
send it down from Benton by river, to meet me at a place called 
Carroll, which he said was about the best starting-point, thus 
saving me a great deal of time, trouble, and money, besides 
giving me the benefit of his experience in choosing the men, 
and of course I accepted his kind offer. 

The following spring I was trying to find a companion, when 
I saw a very good article in the ' Forest and Stream/ from a 
gentleman who said he had spent the last season in the country 
to which I wished to go, and that he meant to return again 
that summer. I wrote to the address given, and got a letter 

from a Colonel P , saying that he thought of starting soon 

and should like a companion ; and it was finally arranged that 
he should share my outfit, and that we should meet at Carroll 
late in August. When the time came I was delayed by having 
to go to New York to meet some guns, &c, coming from 
England, so I wrote to the Colonel asking him to go on to our 
starting-point, take out the outfit and leave a horse for me, on 
which I could join him. This he did, and I started for Carroll 
about a week late, going by rail to Bismarck, then the terminus 
of the Central Pacific railway, and by steamer to Carroll, this 
place being about a hundred and fifty miles above Fort 
Buford, at the mouth of the Yellowstone River. At Bismarck 
I had to wait a full week for a steamer from below; so 
hearing that there were a good many black- and white-tailed 
deer on Big -heart River, I hired a horse and made an excursion 



SPORT ON BIG-HEART RIVER. 289 

up it, though there was a report that some Sioux Indians had 
been seen there lately. Before starting I went across the 
Missouri and saw the principal Indian scout at Fort Abraham 
Lincoln, as to the probability of this report being true. He 
told me that one of his men had seen two strange Indians in 
the distance when some miles up the river several months 
before, and this was all the foundation there was for the rumours 
I had heard. I had bought a tent, not unlike the French 
soldier's tent d'abri, weighing only three pounds, and a very 
small outfit, and this I rolled in my blankets and fastened 
behind the saddle and then started, going up the valley of the 
Big-heart River. 

The first day I only saw one buck in the distance, and as I 
did not mean to hunt so near the Fort, where the country was 
always being disturbed, I did not follow him, camping that 
night under a large rock, with the beautifully clear river 
running within six feet of my tent door. One solitary wolf 
came and serenaded me for hours during the night, asking me 
probably to kill him something to eat, hunters having been 
very scarce lately ; and in the morning I was off early and rode 
all day, making I should think thirty miles, and got into a 
very pretty hunting-country — small wooded hills, separated by 
narrow winding valleys, where I found plenty of deer sign. On 
my way I had jumped three deer, and going out on the 
evening of my arrival I shot a fine buck, getting a grand 
chance at him as he crossed a small prairie not a hundred 
yards from me. He ran about fifty yards before he fell, and 
on going after him into some bushes I put up what I think 
was a puma, but I only got a glimpse, and the light was too 

bad to make certain. 

u 



290 JOURNEY TO BISMARCK. 

The next day I hunted on foot, following the bluffs above 
the river, and jumped a good many deer, shooting one fine 
black-tail only, as I had then as much as I could carry back to 
camp. That night I was awoke by what sounded like an 
Indian's yell, which brought me out on my hands and knees, 
as I made certain I was in for a fight ; but I heard nothing 
further, and it, might have been a puma, though, as a measure 
of precaution, I took my blankets and slept in the bushes, 
where I could see the tent. We have often left a light in our 
tent when in a dangerous country, and then gone and slept in 
the bushes round it, as it gave us a capital chance of shooting 
any Indians who came between us and it. I was not disturbed 
again, and the next morning, after trying for pumas near where 
I had jumped one the day before, and seeing nothing but two 
deer, I packed my two bucks on my pony, and finding that 
he objected to carry me as well, I started on the back trail 
leading him. Now I found the folly of coming on even so 
short a hunt as this without a pack animal, as I was about 
fifty miles from Bismarck, and had three days to do it in, 
leading a pony who needed to be dragged along. I tramped 
down the river, making about three miles an hour, and did 
about twenty miles that day, reaching my first camp-out about 
lunch-time on the second day, and Bismarck about midday 
on the third. I saw only a small bear and some deer on the 
way. The bear got in among some huge rocks where I could 
not follow him, and having so little time I had to leave him 
there. On getting in I found that I need not have hurried, 
as the steamer would not be up the river till late the next 
day. 

Going up the Missouri from Bismarck was even in 1878 a 






JOURNEY UP THE MISSOURI. 291 

pleasant experience, though the game had become much 
scarcer since I came down it in a canoe eleven years before. 
You could, however, still find, some all along the river bottoms, 
and there w-as just sufficient chance of meeting Indians to make 
the hunting exciting. 

There was a man on board who was taking up two capital 
ponies to Benton, and I used to hire one of them and go ashore 
with it before the boat started in the morning (as we never 
ran at night), taking with me some bread and meat for my 
midday meal, in case I should get no game. I would then 
follow the course of the river, cutting across the bends, and 
frequently got a deer and some grouse by evening when I 
rejoined the boat, being always able to find it by its smoke 
from any high point. I had in this way very good sport, and 
avoided the monotony of the journey, and saw some very pretty 
country which was not visible from the boat. 

One day when making my way through a dense thicket on 
the river's bank, into which I had driven some grouse, I came 
upon a hunter's cabin, made of brush, and so placed that if I 
had not gone in as I did I should never had suspected its 
existence. The occupant was a curiosity, and was dressed in 
an old leather shirt and trowsers, almost black with age and 
dirt, his hair hanging down fully six inches below his collar, 
and his face one mass of wrinkles and very like" old brown 
parchment. This old fellow had led a solitary life on the river 
for years, only going into a town twice a year to buy 
ammunition and sell his pelts. He told me that he had 
originally come from the Missouri near St. Louis, which, 
he said, was then a small town and the rendezvous for trappers, 
and that when only sixteen he had there joined a party under 

u2 



292 AN OLD HUNTER. 

Bridger, and had spent many winters in the mountains. He 
had been wounded twice, and more than once had escaped 
with the loss of everything. When he was twenty he married 
a Bannock squaw, and he assured me that an Indian wife was 
worth several white ones, as they would do more work, and 
you could always beat them when they did not obey you, and 
send them back to their people when you were tired of them. 
He seemed, however, to have been very fond of his squaw, for 
when she was killed in a fight with the Sioux he left his 
companions and had lived as a solitary trapper ever since. He 
was, he said, known to so many Indians that none of them 
would injure him, and he offered to take me to the hostile 
Sioux camp, which was then he said about forty miles south 
of where he was then living, and he assured me that they 
would not touch a friend of his ; this kind offer I, however, 
declined, neither having time to do so nor caring to risk it. He 
gave me a dinner of beaver tail, of which he had a great store, 
but I fear I did not appreciate it, though it is considered a great 
delicacy, as it was almost solid fat ; and I bade him good-bye, 
hoping I might see him on my way home in the winter ; but, 
poor old fellow ! he was dead before then, being found by a pass- 
ing steamer lying dead near his hut about a month after I saw 
him. It was thought that he had been killed by a man who 
had been trapping near him on the river, as they were known 
to have quarrelled, but there was no way of proving it. 
Appearances, however, were so against this man, that if 
he had not left that part of the country he would have 
been lynched. 

Seven days after leaving Bismarck we reached Buford, the 
steamer having been very much delayed by the low state of the 



FREAK OF A LIEUTENANT. 293 

river, as she was continually running on to sandbars. Here I saw 
some old women belonging to the same tribe which had given 
me so much trouble in Minnesota in 1863. It seems that after 
the thirty-three Indians had been hung at Mankato for having 
shared in the Minnesota massacre, a number of the Sioux 
gave themselves up; and the Government not knowing what 
to do with them, they were sent up to Fort Bertkold, on the 
Missouri south of Buford, where within two years they were 
all killed off by the Sheyennes and Blackfeet, the one tribe 
hunting to the north and the other to the south of that 
Fort, and now only these few women remained of a party 
numbering from seven to eight hundred. 

Two days from Buford took us to Carroll, a very small place 
on the south bank of the river, consisting of three whiskey- 
saloons, about five small dwelling-houses, and a big store- 
house belonging to the Steamboat Company. Here I found 
Colonel Clendenin waiting for me, and a pony had been left 

in his charge on which I could follow Colonel P , who had 

started two days before. 

I arrived at night, and made up my bed on the floor of the 
storehouse, where Colonel Clendenin also slept. In the course 
of the night we were woke by some loud yells followed by a 
shot, and in the morning heard that a lieutenant of cavalry 
and six men were here, who had been sent to a large Bannock 
Indian camp, where they were to remain and see that none of 
the hostile portion of that tribe came into the camp, but 
finding that slow work, the lieutenant had brought his men 
to Carroll, where they were having what they called a a good 
time " — playing cards and drinking whiskey ; and during the 
previous night, the lieutenant being drunk had fired at one of 



294 TAKEN FOR AN INDIAN. 

the men, who he said had cheated him, but fortunately he 
missed and only made a hole in the tent. 

I found that I could not carry all I had brought with me to 
camp on my pony, so I waited at Carroll a day, as I heard that 
a Major Reed, an ex-Indian agent, was going out to a trading- 
store which he had in the Judith Basin, and as he would pass 
near our camp he kindly offered to carry my things. 1 went 
out grouse-shooting to pass the time, and met two prospectors 
from the Black Hills in Wyoming, who were on their way to 
the Judith Basin, where they had a mining claim, but who had 
lost their way. As I had on a leather suit, they took me for 
an Indian, and ran away as fast as they could go, leaving their 
pack-donkey, and I had some trouble in catching them to show 
them their error. 

In the evening a young fellow came up and shook hands 
with me, saying that he had met me in Bismarck the year 
previous, when he said that he was a clerk in a bank there. I 
did not remember him, but as he was a Canadian and seemed 
in great trouble, I took him to my " bedroom " and we had a 
long talk. He had got into money difficulties in Bismarck, and 
had come up here in the spring, living by chopping wood and 
any odd jobs he could get, having previously been a great 
dandy, never having done any manual labour in his life. 
When I met him he had on the remains of a very smart suit 
— frock coat, light vest, and grey trowsers, with patent leather 
boots- — but it was somewhat difficult to discover what the 
material was. His shoes had once buttoned, but they were 
now tied together with tape, and the kid uppers were sewn on 
to the patent leather with buckskin thongs. He was a good- 
looking young fellow, and had evidently been well educated, 



INDIAN AGENTS. 295 

and what he now wanted was, that I should allow him to go 
with me till a chance occurred of sending him to Butte City, 
where he said he had friends. One more or less in camp 
could make no difference, so I bought him a pony and saddle 
and bridle, and we started together on the second day, Major 
Reed going with us, driving his waggon and taking my things. 
My companion had nothing to carry but a mackintosh sheet and 
what he stood up in. I should have mentioned that his name 
was Symonds. 

We had about forty miles to do, expecting to find Colonel 

P camped at the entrance to the Judith Basin. The first 

day out we saw no game larger than grouse, the country being 
rolling prairie with wooded hills every few miles, and we had 
to camp early as there was no water for some distance ahead ; 
and after supper Major Reed gave us his experiences, which were 
very varied, as he had begun life as a shop-boy, then enlisted 
and fought through the war, and at the end of it, when he was 
a lieutenant, he had been made an Indian agent, and hence the 
brevet rank of major, this being what agents are always 
called. He certainly opened my eyes to the way in which 
Indians were treated, telling us that though an agent's pay Avas 
only three hundred a year, yet he must be a fool (or an honest 
man, which terms he considered synonymous) if he did not 
make twenty thousand pounds during the five years for which 
he held his appointment. He told us that he had often landed 
one half of a steamboat load of flour on the bank of the river, 
bringing on the other half and giving it to the Indians as all 
that had been sent, and then had returned and fetched the second 
half, and sold it as his own, always selling as well half of the 
coats, blankets, socks, &c, which were forwarded for them. 



296 CHASE TWO BEAKS. 

I had been warned before starting that Reed was an awful 
drunkard and a dangerous man when he had had too much, 
who would stick at nothing, and there were many stories of 
the men he had shot ; and yet I found him an unusually nice 
man, of fair education and very fond of Sir Walter Scott's 
novels, especially the poetry, which he always had with him, 
and of which he knew a great deal by heart. For the time he 
had " sworn off," and was drinking essence of ginger in water, 
as he said that he must have something hot. He warned me 
to beware of his partner Bowles, who, according to his account, 
was equal to any rascality, but who had in some way got a 
hold over Reed. 

On the morning of the second day we had some rain, and 
thinking that we should see no game I put my rifle in the 
waggon, which jogged on, the road being good, while Symonds 
and I rode slowly chatting, and we had in this way dropped 
about half a mile behind, when we saw a large grizzly bear aud 
a cub leave a ravine on our left and make across the open 
country for some hills about a mile away. As we had no 
weapon of any kind, I arranged with Symonds that he should 
follow the bears, not going near enough to hurry them, while 
I galloped after the waggon, and got my rifle and returned as 
quickly as I could. I went at full speed and was not away 
more than ten minutes, but when I got back I found Symonds 
at the first small stream which he had come across, and over 
which he said he could not get his pony to go, and the bears 
were out of sight. I galloped in the direction in which they 
had been going, but could see nothing of them, as I came 
across a good many small ravines full of branches, into any 
one of which they might have gone, the prairie being too hard 



JOIN COLONEL P . 297 

for tracking, so I had very reluctantly to give them up and go 
back. This seemed to have been a very large bear and would 
have made a good commencement for the trip. On rejoining 
Symonds and discussing the matter, I was convinced that he 
had not been anxious to keep the bear in sight, as it was the 
first he had ever seen, and he had a very exaggerated idea of 
the danger of hunting them. 

We did not overtake Reed till he had reached our camp, and 

it was a very curious thing that the Colonel P , whom I 

only knew through the letter in the c Forest and Stream/ 
turned out to be a gentleman with whom I had shot grouse 
four years before in Minnesota, though I had not learned his 
name. I brought the tents with me, finding all the party 
living under a waggon-cover, and we had to pitch them at once 
as the rain had changed to snow. 

The report of game was very promising, as there seemed to 
be a great many deer, some elk, and any amount of bear-sign, 
which were what we had come for. The Colonel had two old 
buffalo killed for baits, at two different points, and with the 
fresh-fallen snow the tracking would be very easy. Reed left 
us in the morning, inviting us to visit him at his ranche, 
near which he said we should find plenty of bears, as no one 
hunted them. 

The three men seemed good fellows, especially the guide, 
who was a very quiet man and spoke very little, but seemed to 
know the country well, and was willing to do anything you 
asked him, which is not the case with all guides, some of those 
I have had standing on their dignity and refusing to cut wood 
or to help with the horses. 

I had hoped to have found some more blankets in camp, 



298 ADVENTURE WITH A BEAR. 

but they had been forgotten, so I had to share mine with 
Symonds, which was hard, with snow on the ground, as I 
had only one pair and a greatcoat, while Symonds had my 
second pair and his small mackintosh sheet. I have forgotten to 
say that Symonds had a greyhound when I met him at 
Carroll, and as it seemed a good way of giving him a little 
money without hurting his feelings, I bought it of him for 
twenty dollars (£4s), although it could be of no use to us, 
but he assured me that it was very plucky, and would go in at 
anything in a moment. 

After Reed's departure, the Colonel, Fishel (the guide), and 
I started off to visit the baits, Symonds preferring a book by 
the fire : — bears in print being more in his line than hunting 
them. Soon after leaving camp we came across two fresh 
bear-tracks, going in different directions, so the Colonel 
followed one of them while we took up the trail of the other, 
and had gone about a mile when we came to a large swamp, 
through which the trail went. We were obliged to go round, 
which we did, one on each side of the cover. On the opposite 
bank was a thick clump of willows, about fifty yards square, 
and it did not look large enough to hold so big an animal; and 
we had just entered this at opposite corners, when the bear 
rose just in front of me, looking as large as an elephant. He 
remained a moment on his hind legs and then charged me, 
uttering a loud grunt. I shouted to Fishel that he was coming, 
and my pony spun round so quickly that I had no time to fire, 
so I rushed across a small bottom about a hundred yards wide, 
crashing through a lot of fallen wood, with which it was 
covered. Luckily it was almost all rotten, or it would have 
thrown us down. On hearing my shout, Fishel had started, 



ADVENTURE WITH A BEAR. 301 

and was now doing his best across the bottom, presenting such 
a comic spectacle that I almost tumbled off the pony from 
laughing. His hat had come off and his long hair was blowing 
out behind, while his thin legs were flying about round the 
pony's sides, and his equally long arms were flourishing his rifle, 
with which he was beating the pony ; at the same time he was 
yelling at the animal, and seemed to be trying to climb on to 
its neck. On the opposite side of the bottom was a steep rise 
of ten or twelve feet, up which we went, and the bear stopped 
at the bottom and then trotted back to the willows. I jumped 
off and managed to hit it behind as it entered them, my pony 
backing quickly and preventing my taking any aim. Fishel 
in the meantime had galloped on till he had reached the top 
of a ridge about four hundred yards away, and here he remained 
and opened fire upon the thicket, being much more likely to 
hit me than the bear. 

Just as I remounted, the Colonel appeared on the opposite 
side of the swamp. He had lost his bear in a thicket, and 
hearing our shots had come to see what we were doing. On 
being told the state of affairs, he at once rode into the bushes, 
when the bear charged him, and was so close to his pony's 
tail when he came out that I thought for a moment he had 
caught him. On reaching the open the bear gave up the chase 
and returned to the bushes. I, however, got another ball into 
him, which hit him in the chest, but too much on one side, as 
it only lamed him. I . then drew him out by throwing in 
stones, when the Colonel hit him again behind, after which he 
refused to come out again any more. Meanwhile it had 
begun snowing again, and as the bushes were becoming 
weighed down by the snow — neither of us liked to go in on 



302 THE JUDITH BASIN. 

foot, as it "would have been very difficult to see on account of 
the showers of snow — so we agreed to return to camp and 
come back in the morning, bringing the greyhound, which 
would let us know whether the bear was dead, or not. 

In the morning, the Colonel, Symonds, and I started for the 
willows, taking the dog, and on reaching them sent him in. 
He went in bravely enough, but did not remain one minute, 
coming out again with his tail between his legs, and making 
for camp at his best speed, and taking no notice whatever of 
his master's shouts. On this the Colonel and I tossed up to 
see which of us should go in, and I lost the toss ; so he took 
both horses and kept his rifle ready, while I cautiously 
entered, shaking off the snow in front of me as I went. It 
was difficult to see anything when once inside, but I had not 
gone far, when I came on a big mound of snow, which I made 
out to be the dead bear, lying with his head on his paws as if 
asleep. He was a fine fellow and had a good skin, but the 
body was already very much swollen and offensive though 
covered with snow, and we found it necessary after this to 
open any animal at once, even when coming back to skin him 
within an hour or two. 

This snow only lasted a few days, and then began that most 
beautiful of all seasons — the Indian summer, which generally 
lasts six weeks, and is simply perfection, being neither too hot 
nor too cold, when a beautiful haze covers all the mountains, 
such as one sees in Italy. The Judith Basin was one of the 
most perfect hunting-grounds that I was ever in. It is a valley 
about fifty miles long by twenty wide, and has seven small 
ranges of mountains round it, all of them wooded, and at that 
time full of game of all kinds, including buffalo, antelope, 



TAMP IN THOJ JUDITH MOUNTAINS. 303 

white- and black-tailed deer, elk, mountain-sheep, bears of 
three kinds, wolves and foxes, not to mention grouse and 
ducks. The ranges average about 8000 feet, and have no snow 
on them in summer. The valley had grass as high as one's 
knees, and was intersected by a number of small clear trout- 
streams which, although only a few yards wide, held trout up 
to three and four pounds in weight, while in the willows along 
the banks you could always jump deer. 

Bowles and Reed's ranche was the only building in the 
valley, and neither of these men ever did any hunting, so that 
the game was very tame, the only hunters being Indians, who 
did not trouble deer much when buffalo were so plentiful. 

We moved camp into the Judith mountains, but found deer 
scarce, barely getting enough to supply us with food, though 
we were only about ten miles from where they had been so 
numerous. It is very curious how the game in this basin 
moves from range to range, being in one of them one year 
and in the next one the year after, though there is no apparent 
reason for the change. We went from this camp into the 
middle of the range, going up high and leaving our waggon at 
the bottom, and we put up our tent by a fine spring, which 
seemed a favourite drinking-place for bears, as their tracks 
were very numerous. This was a lovely spot, surrounded by 
peaks which were now covered with snow, and there was just 
room to picket out the two horses we had with us, the rest of 
them having been sent on to Reed's ranche in charge of one of 
the men. Here game was more plentiful than below, and we 
soon found a band of mountain- sheep and killed two of them. 
The meat was delicious, tasting like mutton with a wild 
flavour. 



304 KEED AND BOWLES AT HOME. 

While after these sheep we came across a prospectors' 
camp, in which were three French Canadians. Two of them 
were those I met at Carroll, who had mistaken me for an 
Indian. They were doing badly here and wished themselves 
back in the Black Hills, and very soon after set off to return 
there. 

Major Reed having told us that he was expecting the Bannock 
Indians on a visit to the Basin in about a fortnight's time, 
the Colonel and I determined to pay the ranche a visit and 
see them arrive. On our way we camped for dinner by a 
stream, which disappeared underground every few hundred 
yards, and yet was full of fine trout wherever it was visible. 
I had never seen a similar case, though our guide said they 
were common throughout the country, the soil being very 
sandy. In summer this stream was several feet deep, and is 
above ground its whole length, only sinking in the manner 
mentioned when the water gets low in the autumn. We 
reached the ranche in the evening and found Reed and 
Bowles at home, the latter being a big rough man, who had 
married a Blackfoot squaw, who kept house for them. The 
ranche consisted of a square stockade with large entrance 
gates, inside which were four or five small log cabins, one of 
which was the trading-store, another was for Bowles and his 
wife and Reed to live in, while the others were for strangers 
and for eating-rooms. The whole place was very untidy and 
dirty, a squaw having no idea of cleanliness. We were shown 
into the one meant for passing travellers, where there was 
a bed and two home-made chairs with raw-hide seats. The 
floor was earth and the fire was made on it, the smoke going 



ASTONISH THE INDIANS. 305' 

out through a hole in the roof, most of it, however, remaining 
in the room, so that you had to sit on the floor to breathe. 

The Bannocks were camped about three miles away and 
would be in to-morrow, so that we had come just in time, the 
chief having been already to the ranche to make arrangements. 
Near the stockade were the tents of about twenty Crow 
Indians, who were very busy getting themselves up to meet 
the Bannocks, putting on all their finery, and giving their 
faces another coat of paint. We went in the evening into 
some of their lodges and had a talk with them, Bowles doing 
interpreter. They seemed very nervous about the approaching 
meeting with the Bannocks, the two tribes having very recently 
been at war with each other, and peace had only been made 
that summer. They feared lest the Bannocks should take this 
opportunity of getting a few scalps, Indian ideas on the 
subject of the sacredness of a treaty being very vague, particu- 
larly when, as in this case, there were nine hundred Bannocks 
to the Crows - ' twenty. 

I remained in one of the lodges after the others had left 
and lit one of those little pellets called Pharoah's serpents, out 
of which came something resembling a long white worm, 
causing a regular stampede — men, women, and children 
tumbling over one another in their hurry to get out of the 
lodge. In a few minutes a number of heads appeared, looking 
cautiously in at the door, and seeing that I was unhurt they 
gradually returned, and made me do it again and again, till I 
refused to light any more, wishing to keep a few for the 
Bannocks. On this the women surrounded me, and tried to 
get them from me by force, and I had quite a struggle to get 

x 



306 BUY A BIG GBEY HORSE. 

away, being pursued to the gate of the stockade, while all the 
men stood round and laughed. 

In the morning we rode out with the Crows, forming a line 
when we came in sight of the Bannocks, who also did the 
same. Then the Crow chief and ourselves rode forward to 
meet the Bannock chief, whose name was Tendoi, and we all 
shook hands in a very friendly manner. This chief, of whom 
I saw a good deal later on, was a fine-looking Indian, with a 
good face, though his appearance was much spoiled by his 
wearing a battered high silk hat, of which he was very proud, 
and in the front of which he had put a red cockade. The 
Bannocks were, as a rule, finer men than the Crows, the latter 
were small and wiry, however, and as active as cats. After we 
had all shaken hands, Tendoi joined us, and we rode to a 
place about half a mile from the ranche, where he planted a 
small flag, and this meant that his wives, of whom he had 
three, should put up his lodge on that spot, the rest of the 
tribe erecting theirs so as to form a large circle, the spaces 
between the lodges being filled with brushwood. Into this 
the horses are brought at night, three or four of the younger 
Indians taking it in turn to act as horse-guard. Having seen 
the lodges put up we returned to the ranche, leaving word 
in camp that I wished to buy a good horse. I heard from 
Heed that more than half the tribe had gone on the war- 
path, taking most of the horses, so that there were not 
many for sale ; but a big grey was brought for me to look at 
later in the day, which was much larger than the average 
Indian pony and very good-looking, which I bought for a 
Winchester rifle and fifty dollars (£10). I thought it 



RETURN TO CAMP. 307 

odd that so many Indians came with the horse, and 
crowded round as I mounted, and I fancied, too, that 
as I rode off they looked disappointed; hut the horse went 
so quietly that I thought no more of it, and rode him to camp 
that evening. 



x2 



308 A NICE-TEMPERED HORSE. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

A nice-tempered horse. — A large band of elk. — Putting out baits for bears. 
The first a failure. The second a success. — Buy a new pony. — A good 
bargain. — Fishel goes for letters. Antelope-stalking. — A useless dog. — 
Fishel has his ponies stolen. He and I pay a visit to the Crow Indians. — 
A buffalo-run with the Crows. — The Indian game of " Hand." — A visit 
to the ranche. — Tendoi, the chief of the Bannocks. Stories of him. — 
Unpleasant quarters. — How Bowles got his wife. 

On our return we moved camp to the end of the Judith range, 
hearing from Bowles that he had seen a good many bear-tracks 
there when cutting wood for the ranche about three weeks 
before. 

We had brought our horses and man back with us and were 
soon comfortably established, and we made a capital dining- 
tent of an old waggon-cover which we had bought at the 
ranche. 

The next morning the Colonel and I went hunting together, 
meaning to separate when we got into the mountains. It had 
been raining and I had put my rifle in its case, when seeing 
some very fresh deer-sign I pulled it out, and was holding it 
at arm's length, with the cover in the other hand, when the 



A LARGE BAND OF ELK. 309 

grey gave a tremendous buck, and being overbalanced by the 
rifle I came off, on which, he turned deliberately round and 
lashed out twice at me, missing my head by a few inches only, 
and ending by going off to camp as fast as he could. The 
Colonel followed and brought him back, when I proceeded to 
give him a lesson with a young sapling, in the course of which 
there was some grand bucking done. I began to see now why 
the Indians had been willing to part with so good-looking a 
horse, and why they had been disappointed when he went off 
quietly. 

Soon after this we separated, and I tied up my horse and 
began to climb the hill. I had brought a glass with me, as I 
wanted to see if I could find any sheep. It was a very rough 
climb as there was so much fallen timber in all these ranges, 
but about three hours' walking took me to the top, where the 
view was splendid. The Basin lay at my feet, looking much 
smaller than it really was, and I could see all the other six 
ranges quite plainly; but although I remained there about 
two hours and looked about carefully I saw no game, so I 
began to descend, coming down a different way, and was about 
halfway down, when on mounting a small rocky ridge I 
found myself among a large band of elk, which seemed to 
jump up all round me. I fired at one with a good head, 
and was then sorry I had been so hasty, as a grand bull 
galloped up out of a small hollow where he had been lying 
and passed me within thirty yards. It was horribly tempting, 
but I had already more meat than we could eat, so I let him 
go. The one I had killed had a very pretty head, the horns 
being perfect, but only about 47 inches long. I took as much 
meat as I could carry, fetching my horse from where I had 



310 



PUTTING OUT BAITS FOR BEARS. 



left him, and I found that he had his good points, as he would 
carry anything that was put on him, even allowing me to take 
home the head across the saddle, and I do not know anything 
more awkward to carry. 

The Colonel came in late bringing one deer, and he told me 
that he had killed three more for bear-baits, a useless waste of 
meat, as a bear always carries away a deer, and you see no 
more of him. The remains of the elk would make a capital 
bait, being too large to carry far, and would last for several 
days. I returned to it on the second day, and found that a 
bear had been there, and after eating what it wanted, had 
covered the body up most carefully, the skin, which I had 
taken partly off, was put back again, and the edges were 
fastened to the ground with mud, plastered smoothly down, 
the legs being entirely covered with mud also. It looked 
almost as if someone had done it with a trowel, and one could 
not fancy the clumsy paw of a bear doing it so neatly. 

The next night the Colonel and I watched by the bait, going 
about an hour before the moon rose, as we always found that 
their favourite time for coming was within half an hour of its 
rising; and we had not been there much more than fifteen 
minutes when we heard some animal coming through the 
bushes behind us, but unfortunately down wind, so that almost 
immediately there was a sound something like a sneeze, and 
the animal made off again faster than it had come. It was of 
no use waiting any longer, so we returned to camp. When we 
went to the place in the morning, we found that a large bear 
had come within twenty yards of us and had then winded us and 
made off. I examined the place and found a high rock which 
overlooked the bait, so I went early the following night and lay 



BUY A NEW PONY. 311 

down on the top of the rock, taking a blanket with me as the 
nights were very cold. This time the bear was late, and did not 
arrive till the moon was so high that I feared he would see me, but 
he came from the opposite side, and the bushes were very thick 
right up to the bait. He seemed to stand on the edge of these 
for some time, during which I flattened myself on the top of the 
rock as much as I possibly could, and then out came his head, 
his body following very slowly. I waited until he stood well in 
the light, about thirty yards from me, when I fired at his head 
under the ear, and he sank at the shot and hardly moved again. 
This was a very fine bear with a splendid coat, the hair on the 
crest was fully six inches long and very thick, and the colour 
black, tipped with grey. I only opened him that night, 
returning in the morning with Fishel to skin him, when we 
found that he measured seven feet eleven inches before he was 
skinned, and we estimated his weight at nine hundred pounds, 
as he was not very fat. 

One day while we were at breakfast in camp we heard a 
loud hail, and saw a man, whose face seemed all hair, holding 
a pony by the bridle and calling to us from the top of a 
ridge, apparently not caring to come down till he knew that he 
would be welcome. He proved to be a French Canadian, who 
had arrived at the prospectors' camp at the Black hills after 
they had left it, so he had come to us for information as to 
their whereabouts. We told him that they had done nothing 
and had returned, so that he must have passed them as he 
came to us. He decided to go on to some mines near Fort 
Benton, and left us after having a meal. Before he left I ex- 
changed one of my ponies for his, giving him some money as well, 
and it turned out one of the best and toughest little animals I 



312 FISHEL GOES FOR LETTERS. 

ever sat on, though it had almost as much hair on it as its 
late master. I have on several occasions returned to camp 
with one deer in front of the saddle and another behind, sitting 
myself in the middle, and he jogged along for miles with this 
load, apparently making nothing of it. 

We had received no letters since leaving Carroll, so we sent 
Fishel to a place called Martinsdale about eighty miles off, 
where there was a post-office kept by a brother of Colonel 
Clendenin's, to which we had directed our letters to be sent. 
Fishel thought that he could do it in two days, returning in 
three, and he took two good ponies of his own as we needed 
a few stores at the same time. 

During his absence we went in a good deal for fishing, and 
caught some trout over three pounds in weight, and we threw 
in all under a pound. Game was so plentiful that we could 
only hunt twice a week, and used to explore the mountains or 
fish on the other days. One day we thought we would vary 
our sport by having a day's antelope-stalking, Symonds 
following us in the distance with his dog, in case we wounded 
any. We had some miles to ride as they very seldom came 
near the timber, and at last saw a small band feeding on a very 
bare portion of the valley ; the only way to get near them was 
to wade up a stream which ran within about two hundred yards 
of them. We left our ponies in charge of Symonds and entered 
the stream, the banks of which were only about three feet high 
and the water very cold. Walking against a strong stream in 
nearly two feet of iced water was not very pleasant, especially 
when vou had to double yourself up to keep below the bank ; 
and my companion soon gave it up, so I kept on by myself, 
getting at last within about three hundred yards, too far for a 



HAS HIS PONIES STOLEN. 313 

hollow bullet from an express rifle., so I waited, hoping that 
they might feed a little nearer. Finding my feet becoming 
numbed with the cold, I determined to risk a shot, so making 
a rest of my soft hat and putting up the two hundred yards 
sight, I aimed high and fired at a fine buck, standing nearly 
broadside on. He was evidently hit with the first barrel, and 
the second bullet passed just over his back, but he went off 
well, going so as to pass near where we had left the horses and 
dog ; I ran as fast as I could, shouting to Symonds to let the 
dog go, but on our leaving him he had lain down and gone to 
sleep, leaving the horses, which were fortunately tied together, 
to look after themselves, and it was only when I was close by 
that he woke, and seemed to take in the state of affairs when 
it was too late. I mounted, and calling the dog galloped in 
the direction which the antelope had taken, sighting him at 
last half a mile away, and managed to get the dog to see him 
also, when away he went, I keeping as near as I could on my 
hairy pony. The start given to the antelope was too long a 
one, but the dog went up fast, as the buck was evidently 
crippled, and very soon he was alongside, barking but not 
daring to catch hold. I gained slowly, and when within two 
hundred yards I jumped off and fired twice, but missed, and 
had a very long gallop before I got near again, hitting him, 
however, this time with a bullet in the hind quarters, which tore 
one ham nearly to pieces. It had been a gallop of about four 
miles, and my new purchase had gone well, being by no means 
fast but lasting splendidly. 

Fishel returned on the sixth day, but astonished us very 
much by arriving on a miserable rat of an Indian pony leading 
another, both of his having been stolen by Indians on the night 



314 VISIT TO THE CEOW CAMP. 

of his arrival. This was very bad luck as they were both of 
them good shooting-ponies, well trained to stand fire and to 
remain where they were left. When getting off to stalk any 
animal, the usual way to ensure your pony's being there when 
you return, supposing him to be used to hunting, is to throw 
your reins on the ground, when he will go on feeding till he 
treads on them, and he will then remain on that spot for 
hours. 

Fishel said that the thieves were supposed to be Crows on 
their way to the large Crow camp, about fifty miles from us, 
so he and I determined to ride there and try and recover 
them, as the Crows were friendly. We started the following 
morning, the Colonel saying that he would move camp in our 
absence to the foot of the Little Snowies, a range lying next to 
the Judiths. We were a day and a half doing the fifty miles, 
as the ground was rough and a good many streams had to be 
crossed. I rode my grey and Eishel the hairy pony, which I 
christened " Brownie/' and we took my third pony to pack. 
Early on the second day we overtook about twenty Indians 
going our way, and thought that perhaps they might be the 
thieves, but on coming up with them, we found that they were 
a party of Bannocks going to the Crow camp to buy horses, 
and having seen me with their chief they were very friendly. 
On reaching the Crow camp, where there were about twelve 
hundred warriors, we were given a lodge, and a quantity of 
buffalo-meat was sent to it for our use. We went to see the 
chief, whose name was " Spotted Bear/' in the evening and 
told him why we had come, and he promised to ride with us to 
the horse-band in the morning, as the grass being all eaten 



A BUFFALO-RUN WITH THE CROWS. 315 

near the cainp, they were several miles away under the charge 
of a guard. 

He said that the buffaloes were very plentiful near the 
camp, and offered us horses if we cared to have a run, which 
offer I accepted, Fishel preferring to go to the horse-camp, 
which he could do just as well alone. In the morning I found 
a wild-looking animal waiting for me outside the lodge in 
charge of an urchin about five years old, and almost as wild 
as the horse. These little fellows, though their legs stick out 
straight and they can get no grip, will ride any horse in camp, 
and are frequently sent out to bring in a band of them, turning 
their own rapidly in any direction to head a horse off which 
tries to escape. I found that about a hundred Indians were 
going with me, and that we were under the orders of a sub- 
chief, with whom I rode. We were some hours finding cows 
and calves, passing a good many old bulls, but at last came 
upon a large band, and when they began to run, the word was 
given, and with a wild yell away went all the Indians, I doing 
my best to keep a good place. I had a pair of sharp spurs or 
I should have been nowhere, as an Indian pony will not go for 
a white man without them, and even then I found that I must 
content myself with a " back seat " as they had given me a 
slow one, so I waited till the band was separated, and then 
took after two cows and a calf which had gone off at right 
angles to the others, all the Indians having left me. I 
followed the buffaloes into a narrow side valley and gradually 
crept up to them till I was almost alongside, when round they 
both came and charged, defending the calf. I fired and hit 
one of them in the neck as she came on but did not stop her, 
and had to gallop some way to get rid of her, giving her 



316 THE INDIAN GAME OF u HAND." 

another shot behind the fore leg, about a foot above the 
brisket, when she fell. I then turned my attention to the 
others, which were by this time a quarter of a mile ahead, and 
a gallop of a mile put me once more alongside, when I shot 
the calf, letting the second cow go as my pony was nearly 
done. 

After taking the two tongues, I rode back the way I had 
come, meeting some of the Crows coming to look for me, 
thinking I was a (C tenderfoot " and should lose myself. I 
told them where my two buffaloes were, and they said that the 
women would come out the next day and take the meat to 
camp. On our return I found Fishel in the lodge, having 
just come back from the horse-camp, where he had not found 
his ponies, though he said that he was sure that they had been 
there when we arrived, from some words spoken by the Indians 
on their way to the horse-camp that morning, which he had 
understood. An Indian's morality on the subject of stealing 
generally, and especially stealing horses, is very lax, one of the 
best Indians I ever knew telling me u that him no wrong to 
steal, him only wrong to be found out.-" When you catch 
them in the act they will only laugh, as if it were a good joke, 
and are not in the least ashamed of themselves. There was 
nothing to be done but to make the best of it, though we felt 
inclined to try and run off a few of their ponies when we left. 

That evening we went to an Indian's lodge to see them 
play their favourite game of " Hand." The game consists in 
holding a shell in one hand, then placing both hands under a 
buffalo-robe, which is lying in front of all the players, who 
kneel in a circle, moving the hands about rapidly, changing 
the shell from one to the other and then holding them both up 



INDIAN GAMBLERS. 317 

closed, l your adversary having to say in which of them the 
shell is, losing a peg if he is wrong. A row of pegs stands in 
front of each man, who either takes one from or gives one to 
his opponent according to his loss or gain. These pegs 
represent so much, and everything an Indian possesses is 
valued at so many pegs — a wife so many, a horse so many, and 
so on. An Indian will frequently lose all he has in one evening 
, — wife, children, horses, and lodge — and will leave with nothing 
but what he stands up in, when his friends will lend him a gun 
and some ammunition, with which he will in time get skins 
enough to fit himself out again. Many of those present lost 
heavily on this occasion, but they ail took it very quietly, and 
you could not tell ■ from their faces whether they were winning 
or losing. I was told that when a man lost his wife and 
children they generally went to the lodge of the winner 
without showing any feeling at all. 

In the morning the chief got up some horse-racing, of 
which all Indians are passionately fond, and many white men 
make a small fortune by going among them with a fast horse, 
winning any number of ponies, buffalo-robes, deer-skins, &c. 
The Indians, however, are very good judges of a race pony, 
and will refuse to run any which they think too fast for 
theirs. 

"We only remained two days in the camp, and then set out to 
return, getting as far as the foot of the Judiths by nightfall, 
and as we travelled fast we reached our last camp by the 
middle of the next day, and by following the waggon- trail we 
found the fresh camp — pitched at the head of Great Spring Creek, 
the largest stream in the Basin, which rises in the Snowies. 
We Ground the Colonel just on the point of moving again, as 



318 ANECDOTES OF TENDOI. 

he had discovered a place high up in the mountains where 
game of all kind seemed very plentiful, bear-sign especially 
being very thick. There were, he said, large thickets of wild 
raspberries and blueberries, of which the bears are very fond, 
and round some of these the ground was trampled by them 
like a sheep-pen. 

As Fishel had directed any letters coming to Martinsdale to 
be forwarded to Reed's ranche, I determined to leave the 
others to move camp while I rode to the ranche and got our 
letters. On getting in I found two very rough men staying 
on their way from Carroll to Bozeman. They were Indian 
traders, and had brought a quantity of the vile stuff which is 
sold by them as whiskey, and this they had all been drinking 
for some days, and were more than half drunk when I arrived. 
My letters had not come, so that I had to wait for them, and 
I passed most of my time with Tendoi in the Bannock camp, 
a good Indian being a preferable companion to such men as 
there were at the ranche. The chief and I got to be such 
friends that he lent me his war-horse, a fine roan of about 
fifteen hands, to ride, which was a great favour. 

I heard a story of Tendoi which shows what kind of man he 
was. When the tribe some months before had held a council as 
to whether they should go on the war-path or not, and more 
than half had decided to do so, Tendoi and his son had gone in 
the night and had warned all the neighbouring settlers, who 
in their turn had warned others, so that when the hostiles had 
visited their ranches the owners had fled, and the intended 
massacre did not take place. They risked a great deal in doing 
this, for had it become known they would probably have been 



ANECDOTES OF TENDOI. 319 

killed, fully three quarters of the tribe having joined Peggee, 
the war-chief, against Tendons orders. 

I slept in his lodge one night and he lent me some buffalo- 
robes, and I am sorry to say that it took me several days to 
get rid of what he supplied me with. I tried to induce him to 
give up wearing the high hat, but could not succeed in doing 
so ; it had been smashed several times, and I took it off his 
head and sat on it, telling him that he was a fine Indian 
without it, and a scarecrow with it on. This last word, 
however, he did not understand, but replied : a Me like um, 
me ; a good white man give um, and me wear um ; " and he did 
not mind my having sat on it in the least. 

Bowles told me another story of him, showing how unlike 
most Indians he was. On a former visit to the Judith Basin, 
one of his men had hidden himself in the stockade one night 
before the gates were closed, and waiting until everyone was 
asleep he cut out the parchment, which formed the window of 
the trading-store, and began to get in. Bowles happened to be 
sleeping there that night, and the noise waking him he fired, 
killing the Indian so instantly that he remained half in and 
half out of the window. Knowing that the man's relations 
would make a blood-feud of it, and that unless something 
could be done at once to prevent it he was as good as dead, 
he went to Tendoi and related what had happened. The chief 
told him to bury the man and that he would put the matter 
straight ; so early in the morning he summoned all the Indians 
in camp to a council, and when they were all assembled he 
stood up and told them that a member of the tribe had 
disgraced it by trying to rob a friend of their chief's, that he 
was dead, and that from that time his name must be forgotten 



320 UNPLEASANT QUARTERS. 

and no revenge taken for his death. He then mentioned the 
man's name, and said that if anyone disobeyed him he would 
kill that man ; and nothing more was heard of the matter. 

As I did not care to remain a second night in camp I 
returned to the ranche, and found everyone there drunk as 
usual and very noisy. The cabin in which we had to sit was 
not more than sixteen feet by twelve, and four drunken men 
nearly filled it, so when bed-time came I asked Bowles where 
I could sleep, and was told to lay my blankets in a corner 
or take the bed, whichever I preferred. Now there was no sign 
that the drinking was at an end, and it was more than likely 
to finish up with a fight, so I declined to occupy either of the 
places offered me, and said that I should sleep in the trading- 
store, the door of which opened out of the room we were in ; 
on which Bowles replied that he allowed no one to sleep there. 
I saw that unless I was firm I must pass the night where I 
was, so I told him that of course I was not going to remain 
with them in their present state, and that I must have the key 
of the store at once, on which he gave it to me and I went in 
and locked the door after me, telling them that I hoped they 
would not try to come in during the night as I always fired 
through the door in a case of that kind. I knew the whiskey 
was in there and thought they might come in for a fresh supply, 
but though there was a great noise in the next room till far into 
the night, and some quarrelling, I was not disturbed. 

In the store I found a large pile of buffalo-robes which 
made me a capital bed, though the flavour was a little too 
pronounced perhaps, as a good many of them were not dressed. 
In the morning I had a look round the store to see what it 
was that Bowles guarded so jealously, but found nothing but 



HOW BOWLES GOT HIS WIFE. 321 

trumpery common beads and knives, brass wire, sham jewelry, 
packets of vermilion and blue paint in powder, and pots and 
pans, everything being of the commonest kind. 

The men in the outer room were all asleep when I went in 
there, so I adjourned to the well, and was getting a fair 
substitute for a bath in a stable-bucket, when I found that 
Bowles's squaw was watching me, and I had to bolt, much to 
her amusement. This woman had come to the ranche with 
her husband, a Blackfoot warrior, who had three fine horses 
with him which he had stolen in the settlements. Bowles 
tried to buy them of him, and failing in this got up a quarrel 
and shot him over the counter of the trading- store, taking his 
horses and his squaw, the latter being very well pleased with 
her change of masters. Reed told me this story, and took me 
outside to show me the Indian's grave, seeming to think 
nothing of it, no one in that country looking on an Indian as a 
human being, but as something little better than a wolf. 

The food at the ranche was very badly cooked and very 
dirty, so I broiled myself some buffalo-steaks for dinner and 
supper, which helped to pass the time. I had to pass two 
more days there, as the Government courier was delayed and 
the mail nearly a week later than usual ; and we found when 
he arrived that this was because his horses had been stolen 
when one day's journey from Martinsdale, so that he had to 
walk into that place, carrying the mails on his back, to get more 
horses to continue his journey. 



322 SEED SHOOTS A BEAR ! 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Reed shoots a grizzly bear ! — A splendid hunting-ground. — Wholesale 
massacre of deer. — The Colonel shoots a grizzly. I get one the next 
night. — Another hear. — Tendoi pays us a visit. His appreciation of 
curry. — Suspicious tracks. — Horse-thieves. Expedition to destroy 
them. — Horses stampeded. The cause. — Fishel and I go to see the 
Crow war-dance. — Crow sham fight. — Foolish freak of an Englishman. 
— The war-dance. Unpleasant reflections thereat. 

As soon as I got our letters I started for camp, very thankful 
to get away from such a place. Reed had been ill most of the 
time, so that I had seen very little of him. He had taken to 
drinking again, the ginger not satisfying him for long. 
He told me, during a sober interval, that he had been 
into Martinsdale since I saw him last, and that, on his way 
back, he had had to camp out one night without a tent, and 
that during the night, happening to awake, he had looked up 
and seen what he took to be an immense bear standing on 
the opposite side of the fire ; so he snatched up his rifle and 
fired at it ; and it fell, and when he went to see what it was, he 
found he had shot his favourite horse. He was always on the 



A SPLENDID HUNTING-GROUND. 323 

verge of D. T., so that his mistaking a horse for a bear was 

not to be wondered at. 

I slept at our old camp on Spring Creek that night, and 

reached the new one by the afternoon of the next day, and 

found the Colonel had just come in from a hunt, and very 

enthusiastic about the amount of game in this place which he 

had discovered. He had seen two bands of elk that morning 

and no end of deer; bear-sign, too, was everywhere. The 

men said that they had heard elk close to the tent in the night, 

so that things looked very promising. The camp had been 

pitched on a beautiful spot, a small plateau at the foot of 

the Snowy Range about six thousand feet above, and with 

a view over the greater portion of the Judith Basin. The 

mountains behind us were a long line of jagged peaks, rising 

out of dense pine-forests. The Colonel took me to a point 

close by and showed me a band of elk feeding, before I 

had been ten minutes in camp ; and on my way to where they 

were we jumped three small bands of biacktails. I got one of 

the elk after a very easy stalk, and three deer on my way back, 

taking all the meat into camp, as I had asked Tendoi to come 

and see us, and knew that he would be glad of it. I never 

saw so many deer as there were here ; we often jumped them 

when going to picket the horses, within a quarter of a mile of 

the tent, and found fresh tracks in the snow almost every 

morning, where they had been even nearer than that. One 

day, when out with Fishel, we passed a tumble-down cabin, 

Fishel remarking that this was where the " greenhorns " 

wintered, and when I asked him what he meant, he told me 

that two years before, deer-skins being then worth more than 

y2 



324 THE COLONEL SHOOTS A GRIZZLY. 

usual, he and a partner had wintered in these mountains, 
skin -hunting, and had good luck, getting more than thirteen 
hundred deer ; and that, hearing of this, two other men came 
and put up a cabin near them, but had made a failure of it, 
only killing about four hundred deer and hardly paying their 
expenses. So that the four men had actually killed more than 
seventeen hundred black- and white-tailed deer for their skins 
alone, beside ail those they wounded and did not get. Since 
then deer-skins had become of so little value as to be not 
worth taking off, fifteenpence being the outside price, and the 
deer were as plentiful as ever. 

We put a bear-bait about four hundred yards from camp, in 
a small ravine with precipitous sides, fastening three deer to a 
strong rope and staking them down just under a large rock, 
which made a grand place to shoot from, being about twenty 
feet above the bait. Bears do not care for meat until it is 
high, so that for several days none came ; but at last we found 
that one big one had supped there, so we tossed up for first 
chance, and the Colonel won, so he and Fishel went about half 
an hour before the moon rose and took up a position on the 
rock. We sat round the fire and waited, and about half an 
hour after they left we heard the ColoneFs rifle, and then two 
loud reports, made by my ten-bore shot-gun, which Fishel had 
taken loaded with buckshot. Half an hour later they returned, 
having killed a fine grizzly, which, on skinning it the next 
morning, had, we found, a ball between the shoulders, passing 
close to the heart, and seven buckshot in the head, about 
enough for any bear, I fancy. 

The next night the waggon-driver and I went out, and had 
an hour to wait, when, although we heard nothing come, we 



TENDOI PAYS US A VISIT. 



325 



saw something grey moving on the bait, so we both fired 
together, and there was a great commotion, earth and stones 
flying in all directions for a few moments, after which all was 
still, and on descending we found that we had got a fair-sized 
bear, with a beautiful skin, one ball having taken him in the 
hind quarters and one breaking the spine in the middle of the 
back. This firing from above is very deadly, and we never failed 
to get a bear hit in this way. The Colonel went the following 
night, and got a third bear, after which they got shy, and 
did not come to the bait again while we remained there. 

We were going to dinner one day when Tendoi and one of 
his men, who acted as a kind of aide-de-camp, rode into camp, 
and were very much astonished to see four large bear-skins 
pegged out round the tent, as the killing of a grizzly entitled 
an Indian to call himself a warrior and ranked with the taking 
of a scalp. Of course they stayed for dinner, for which we 
happened to have made a large curry, a thing which neither 
of them had ever tasted before, and with which Tendoi was 
delighted, taking eleven helpings, though his companion did 
not like it. Tendoi told me that he had never eaten anything 
so good in his life, and after he had finished he sat against the 
waggon-wheel patting himself and saying, " Me feel heap a 
good, me!" and then he called me and, patting me on the back, 
held up two fingers, and told me that they represented himself 
and myself who were two brothers, adding that if anyone hurt 
me he would kill him, or, as he put it, " Me kill um, me ! " 
Before leaving us Tendoi told us that the Crows were coming 
to his camp to dance the war-dance, and that he hoped we 
would come and stay with him and see it, which I promised to 
do, the Colonel preferring to remain in camp, having a great 



326 HORSE-THIEVES. 

dread of an Indian lodge, the smaller occupants of it having a 
particular liking for him, and refusing to leave when once they 
had paid him a visit. I have said very little of Symonds, as he 
never accompanied us on our excursions, passing his time 
fishing or reading, and wondering how we could find any 
pleasure in camp-life. 

Some days before Tendoi ; s arrival we had found some fresh 
moccasin trails in a small valley running at right angles to the 
one in which we were, so we asked him whether they were 
made by any of his men, and he assured us that they could not 
have been made by any of the friendly portion of the tribe, as 
none of them had, at that time, been out hunting, but that 
Indians were always going between his camp and the hostiles, 
and that some of these might have passed near us ; and he 
assured us that when it was known that we were his friends, 
we need not fear for ourselves or horses. We heard after- 
wards from Bowles that the tracks we had found were made by 
some of a party of horse-thieves — white men and Indians — 
who were camped in the big Snowies, the next range to the 
one we were in. These men had been stealing horses from 
both whites and Indians for some months, and, shortly after 
we had left the Basin, a mixed party was sent against them, 
Tendoi and some of his men joining it. The horse-thieves 
were surprised, but fought well, most of them being killed, and 
a number of horses were recovered; however, FisheFs two 
were not among them. We heard nothing of such an expedi- 
tion before we left, or we should have remained longer and 
joined it. From this time we always brought the horses in at 
night, picketing them near the waggon, this being always the 
difficulty when remaining long in one camp, as each horse has 



HORSES STAMPEDED. 327 

sixty feet of rope, and all the grass near camp is soon eaten off, 
consequently some of our horses had to be picketed a quarter 
of a mile away. 

One night, after we had turned in, we heard horses galloping, 
and then a number of them went by the tent at full speed. I 
jumped out of bed, caught up my rifle, and was away after 
them in a moment, forgetting that I had nothing on but a 
shirt, and shouted to the men to follow me. I ran some way 
down the valley, crouching now and then, but could see 
nothing as it was very dark ; so, after going about a quarter of 
a mile, I turned back, meeting the men on the way. We 
talked the matter over and decided that they had been 
stampeded by some animal, as, had it been Indians, we should 
have heard them, and in any case nothing could be done till 
morning, so we returned to the tents, my feet being a good 
deal cut by the rough ground and my legs by the thorns. On 
going into the tent I found the Colonel in bed, his idea being 
that, as they were gone, it was too late to do anything. In the 
morning we found that all had gone but the Colonel's pony, 
which he had happened to picket away from the others in a 
small side valley. We trailed up the others, and found them 
all tied in the brush about four miles from camp. They had 
galloped some miles, and had then begun to feed, soon tying 
the sixty feet of rope, which each had fastened to his headstall, 
round the bushes. 

We had, a few days later, an opportunity of seeing how it 
originated, and found that it was all owing to my grey horse, 
which had evidently been brought up in a bad school. He 
would walk up to his picket-pin, shake the rope which was 
round his neck as low as possible, and then, putting clown his 



328 PREPARING POR THE WAR-DANCE. 

head, he would go off at full speed, not seeming to mind being 
thrown down when he came to the end of his rope, for he 
would try it again till he had pulled the picket-pin out, when 
he would go off to the nearest horse and gallop round him, 
winding him up in the rope, and throwing him, the result being 
that he would get up and rush off, tearing up his pin, the grey 
going on to one after another until he had them all loose. I 
tried tying his rope to a halter, but he would still manage it, 
so I made a fetlock-strap and tied it to that when I had him, 
and he never got away afterwards. 

It was now time to go to Tendons camp for the dance, so 
Eishel and I started, meaning to remain away five or six days. 
We got to the camp the same night, and Tendoi seemed glad 
to see us, and set apart a portion of his lodge for our use ; and 
this time we had brought our own blankets, and had the lodge 
well swept out and fresh pine-boughs put down before making 
our beds. 

The war-dance was coming off the next day, so we passed 
the interval in going round among the lodges, making the 
acquaintance of the principal Indians, and had to eat some- 
thing in each tepe and smoke in most of them. The Crows 
had erected their lodges close to those of the Bannocks, and 
we went to see them also, finding them very busy painting one 
another for the dance, the toilet taking a full day. One of 
them had white rings round his eyes, and a white line following 
each rib, while another had red and black stripes running side 
by side the whole length of his body, no two Indians being 
alike. The squaws seemed as proud as their husbands in this 
dress, or rather undress, as a lady in civilization might be to see 
hers in a general's uniform. The following day the Crows got 



FOOLISH FKEAK OF AN ENGLISHMAN. 329 

up a sham fight in our honour, forming sides and using 
Winchester rifles and knives. The fighting-ground was in the 
centre of the Bannock camp, a circle about a hundred and fifty 
yards in diameter ; and here the fight was so furious and they 
got so excited that one might very easily have fancied it real. 
They charged one another, yelling their war-whoop, firing in 
the air as they came on, and then closed and wrestled on 
horseback, showing us some very fine riding ; and the horses 
seemed to enter into the spirit of the thing quite as much as 
their riders. Most of them rode bare-backed and yet clung as 
if glued on, one of them being every now and then taken from 
his horse and carried off, when he was supposed to be scalped 
and out of the fight. It lasted about an hour, and no one 
seemed a bit the worse for it, though there were some bad falls 
and some very hard knocks given. 

I went to the ranche and found Bowles and Reed at home, 
and for a wonder sober, so I stayed and had a long talk, and 
Reed told me of a very foolish thing which had been done by 
an Englishman the previous year on this spot. It seems that 
early in the spring the great chief of the Crows, (c White 
Horse," had died, and, according to the custom of the tribe, 
he had been doubled up and put in a box, which had been 
placed on a stage close to the stockade, the only departure from 
the usual custom being in this case the use of a box, the bodies 
usually being merely wrapped in blankets. An Englishman 
passed through the valley during the autumn, and tried to buy 
the head of the chief as a curiosity ; but of course the Indians 
were horrified at the idea, and refused at once, putting a guard 
on the grave. In some way the Englishman managed to elude 
the guard and steal the head, going off at once to Benton, 



330 THE WAK-DANCE. 

whence he took the head to England. When it was found out 
that the head was gone, the indignation and horror of the 
Crows may be imagined, as, according to their belief, their late 
chief could never go to the (C happy hunting-grounds," and it 
very nearly led to a rising of the tribe against the whites, and 
this was only averted by their agent saying that he would get 
the head restored ; and some months afterwards he produced a 
head which he said was the same, and it was replaced in the 
box, and the Crows quieted down : the truth, however, being 
that the head came from another agency where the Indians 
buried their dead, and where this head had been dug up. 

In the evening the dance came off. Fishel and I went rather 
late, so that by the time we got to a large tepe in which it was 
being held there was an immense crowd of Bannocks — men, 
women, and children — round the door. Tendoi had refused to 
attend, as he said that many of the hostiles would be present, 
and as they had disobeyed him he did not care to meet them. 
We pushed our way towards the door, and had just reached 
it, when an Indian took me by the wrist and, pulling me out of 
the crowd, said something to me in Bannock, which I of course 
did not understand, so I told him I was Tendons brother, 
having learned that much of their language on purpose, and 
this seemed to satisfy him and he let me go. I had my hand 
on my revolver, and could easily have shot him had he tried to 
injure me. On reaching the door again I found that Fishel 
had got us two places against the side of the tepe, the inside of 
which presented a curious spectacle. Bound against the sides 
were squatted three rows of Indians, one in front of the other, 
as close as they could be made to go, while the Crows were 
dancing round a large fire in the centre, swinging their 



UNPLEASANT KEFLECTIONS. 331 

tomahawks in their right hands and holding knives in their 
left. Each man was given a chance of telling his exploits, the 
others joining in now and then with a lond note of praise, 
when any more than usually daring deed was recounted, and at 
the end of each man's recital all of them sang a sort of war- 
chant, striking with their tomahawks and using their knives 
as if scalping an enemy, dancing furiously in the meanwhile ; 
and this went on till every man had made the most of his 
warlike deeds, when some whiskey which had been got from 
the ranche was handed round, and we then left, though we 
could hear them singing and shouting most of the night. 

It gave one a very curious feeling to think that many of 
those present were declared enemies of the whites, and had 
probably been committing atrocities within the last few days, 
and that if they met us anywhere else they would attack us at 
once. I mentioned to Tendoi on our return what had hap- 
pened to me, on which he said, " You safey ; you my white 
brother ! " and I really think that he would have killed the man 
who tried to kill me. 



332 SYMONDS LEAVES US. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Symonds leaves us. — I explore the Little Snowies. — Follow the trail of a 
grizzly. — Try to get hack to carnp. — A difficult road. — A fine view. — 
Plenty of game. — I enjoy a siesta. — An alarming awakening. — Peculiar 
rocks. — Mountain-sheep. — I hag a grizzly. — Good sport. — Meet a party 
of white men. — The Greenhorn. — Attempt to lasso the grey. — Indian 
attack defeated by Greenhorn. — Stories of grizzlies. — Sheep-ranches. 

While I was in Tendoi's camp, a lot of freight- waggons stopped 
at the ranche, on their way to Butte city, and it struck me 
that this would be a good opportunity for Symonds, who wished 
to go there ; so I persuaded the " Boss " to wait a day or two, 
while I returned to camp and brought him back with me. I 
found Symonds very ready to go ; camp-life was intolerably 
dull to one who had no taste for sport of any kind, and who 
was continually longing for a town. We parted good friends, 
although we had not fraternized much. I arranged for him to 
sleep in one of the waggons, and paid for his food as far as 
Butte, and we induced him to take the greyhound with him, 
as it had only been in our way, requiring to be tied up when 
we went out hunting, and often howling in the night, which 
might have brought the Indians on us. 

A few days after getting back to camp I made up my mind 



I EXPLOEE THE LITTLE SNOWIES. 333 

to explore the Little Snowies, making a tour of the range, and 
going up any likely-looking valleys which I might come across. 
I got the cook to make me enough camp bread for a week, and 
taking two blankets, a coat, and a few camp necessaries, I 
started due east, keeping well in the range and crossing 
numerous ridges and ravines. I do not think any kind of hunt- 
ing comes up to the pleasure and excitement of these solitary 
rambles, where in many cases you carry your life in your hand, 
and rely for your daily food on your rifle, and never know from 
minute to minute what may turn up. 

I passed some beautiful places for camps, and jumped a great 
many deer the first day, and came across one small bear, but it 
saw me first and made off up the mountain, and I let it go, as 
the ground was almost impassable. My first camp was in a 
pretty ravine at a spring, where I put up a rough shelter and 
made a fire, as the weather was very cold and there were 
several inches of snow on the ground. I was so far up in the 
mountains that no wolves came to serenade me, which was a great 
relief, for their howling is a very melancholy sound when you 
have no one to talk to. I rode Brownie, and a good companion 
he proved, coming and standing by me at the camp-fire, now 
and then rubbing his head against me. I never tied him up 
after the first night, and he was always somewhere near in the 
morning. I had trained him to stand very still when I fired 
off him, and to remain wherever I left him, and he was so 
intelligent that he learnt very quickly. On the morning of the 
second day I came on the trail of a large bear and cub, and as 
there was a great deal of fallen timber, I dismounted, and 
having removed the saddle and bridle, I left the pony loose 
with a short rope on him, taking the bearings of the place very 



334 ROUGH GROUND. 

carefully — a most important thing to do in a mountainous 
region, where the country is all so much alike. The trail led 
me over two high ridges straight for the top of the range, and 
I came then upon a very deep ravine, with almost precipitous 
sides, on the other side of which was the main range. I was 
by this time somewhat weary, for the ground was not only 
covered with fallen trees, but these were partially hidden under 
the snow, so that I was continually tripping and falling, so 
I sat down and ate some of my bread, and rested until I was 
too cold to remain any longer, when I began to descend, and 
found even this very difficult, as the ground was loose shale, 
which gave way continually, so that I slid down most of the 
way. The bottom of the ravine was one mass of fallen rocks 
and trees, and I made sure that I should find the bear in her lair 
under these, as the opposite cliff was almost perpendicular and 
looked impassable ; but when I reached the bottom I found that 
she had gone straight up, and as it was shale and much steeper 
than the other side, I gave it up and tried to climb the side I 
had come down. This I found I could not do, as after getting 
up some yards, the shale would slip from under me in a mass, 
carrying the snow with it, and down I went. Finding I could 
not manage it, I made my way along the bottom, and the going 
was simply awful, for the rocks were piled up to a height of 
from ten to thirty feet. I tried several times to get up the side 
lower down, but always fell back again, and it ended by my 
having to scramble along that horrible ravine for more than 
three hours, feeling sometimes so utterly done that nothing 
but the certainty of being frozen to death if I remained where 
I was kept me going. At last I got to where the ravine ran 
out into the plain, and as it was now long after sunset, I had 



PLENTY OF GAME. 335 

to walk about waiting for the moon to rise, before I could make 
my way to where I had left the pony. Fortunately I had 
marked this so well, that I found it even by moonlight. After 
this I never went without matches in my pocket, instead of in 
my saddle-bag, where they were on this occasion. Had I had 
them I should have camped for the night in the ravine, where 
there was any amount of wood. As it was I did not reach the 
pony till nearly ten o' clock, and I camped within a few yards 
of where I had left him, and ate an enormous supper, having 
only had a small piece of bread since the morning. Brownie 
seemed to be quite glad to see me, neighing when he first heard 
me and coming a short distance to meet me. 

The next day I reached the end of the range, and had a fine 
view of the country away towards the Mussel-shell river, a dis- 
tance of about twenty miles. There were several small bands 
of buffalo in sight, and one old fellow w r as just at the edge of 
the timber below me, but I must have wasted all the meat, so 
I would not kill him. There were not so many tracks of bears 
here as near our camp, as the berries were scarce, owing to the 
country having been recently burnt. That morning I shot a 
young black-tailed deer for meat and also a wild cat, using a 
solid ball. Deer were very plentiful, and so tame that one lot 
of five would not go away though I was within seventy yards 
of them, and I had to shout and throw up my hat to startle them. 

I was now on the opposite side of the range to that on which 
our camp lay, and where the scenery was not nearly so beautiful, 
as the mountains came down very abruptly on my side, and 
there was much less broken ground at their base, and I had to 
ride along in the open. It was very hot in the sun in spite of 
the snow, so after my mid-day meal I thought I would take a 



336 A SUDDEN FRIGHT. 

siesta, and finding a very large fallen tree, which lay at a con- 
venient angle, I lay down on it, and stood my rifle against the 
tree close to me ; but it was not comfortable where I was, so I 
moved to the other end of the log, about forty feet away, for- 
getting to take my rifle with me, and soon fell asleep with 
my blanket over me. I must have slept for some time, 
when I was awoke by a noise, and, looking up, saw a row of 
shining copper-coloured faces round me, some of them being 
within two feet of mine. I do not think I was ever so startled 
in my life ; but an instant's reflection showed me that I must 
pretend to be cool, so I raised myself on one elbow and held 
out my right hand, and all of them came forward and shook it. 
Then I got up slowly and strolled towards my rifle, feeling 
more comfortable when I had it in my hands. I feared that 
they might be one of the hostile bands of Bannocks, who were 
out under Peggee, but they turned out to be Crows from the 
large camp, and some of them knew me, from having seen me 
when there with Fishel, when looking for his stolen horses. 
They had plenty of meat with them, and I had to sit down and 
eat some of it, although I had already dined, or they would have 
been offended ; so that it was nearly four o'clock in the after- 
noon before I got off, and I camped that night on the prairie, 
where there was a beautiful spring and good food for the pony. 
The change had done him good, and, in spite of the weight he 
had to carry, he was much fatter than when I started; the 
grass was brown, but it is a peculiarity of Montana that the 
hay cures without being cut, and will fatten a horse quickly 
long after it has lost its colour. 

The next day I reached the other end of the Range, and 
turned the corner towards our camp, having a rather curious 



PECULIAR ROCKS. 339 

experience. I was riding late in the afternoon, and had just 
passed a small band of elk, when I came to what looked like 
the remains of an enormous gateway. It was the entrance to 
a small valley, running up towards the main ridge, and the 
rocks on each side were so perpendicular as to be exactly like 
the remains of a work done by the hands of man ; I thought I 
would see where the valley went to, so, getting off my pony> I 
led him up a narrow deer-path, through pines and brushwood, 
and after going a hundred yards, I came out into a small oval 
prairie, having in the middle what at first resembled the re- 
mains of a very high church-tower, and I began to think I had 
got among some gigantic ruins, which had not yet been dis- 
covered by anyone else. A second look, however, showed 
breaks in the outline, but it was still an extraordinary rock, 
standing as it did nearly in the middle of the prairie. It must 
have been two hundred feet high and about four feet wide, 
retaining this width to the top. About halfway up was a 
hollow in the surface of the front, which might have been the 
hole where a clock had once been. There was splendid grass 
here, so I camped on one side of this rock, which, by the way, 
lost all resemblance to a tower when seen from the side. 

My usual camp on that trip was a mackintosh sheet put up as 
a lean-to, in front of which I lit a fire, and when I took the 
trouble to put about six inches of small pine- boughs under the 
sheet, it was a first-rate bed and shelter. An equally good and 
much lighter one can be made of a large sheet of common 
cotton-drill, and if stretched properly it is nearly as waterproof. 
I remained in this camp two nights, and found lots of game, 
and I think I could have killed twenty or thirty deer a day 

had I wished to do so. On the second day I climbed the main 

z2 



340 MOUNTAIN-SHEEP. 

ridge on foot, starting early, and had barely reached the top 
when I saw three mountain-sheep. They were on a lower 
ridge on the other side, and a long way off, but the wind was 
right, and I determined to try for one of them. I had a very 
steep descent of four hundred feet, and some rocky ravines to 
cross, then came a climb, where I had to use my hands as well, 
after which it was all crawling, and I managed to get within a 
hundred and twenty yards of them, when I saw they were two 
sheep and a young ram, with well formed but short horns. I 
had pushed the safety-bolts of my rifle forward, and now, as I 
thought, drew them back; but when I tried to full cock the 
hammers, I found that I could not do so, and I took my knife- 
handle to push the bolts further, when off went the right barrel, 
and the sheep did the same, and I had my long scramble for 
nothing. On my way back I shot a deer, choosing one which 
I started close to the valley, so that I could come again for 
more of the meat. 

On the morning of the next day I was off again, being now, 
I calculated, only one day's journey from camp, and I was 
riding down a ravine when I saw an immense bear coming up it. 
I jumped off at once and got behind my pony, hoping that the 
bear had not seen me, but he had done so, and turned up a side 
ravine. Leaving my pony I crossed two small ridges which lay 
between me and the ravine he was in, and arrived just in time 
to see him go into a thick patch of dead thorn bushes. These, 
as I have said before, are very common in that part of the 
Montana ; fire at some time has killed them, and the bark has 
come off and the wood become very hard, but the thorns 
remain as sharp as ever, creepers grow over them, and they are a 
very favourite lair for bears. This patch was about sixty yards 



I BAG A GEIZZLY. 341 

long by about half as wide, and by standing on the hill above 
I could easily see if anything left it. Here I stationed myself , 
and the ground being stony, I began to throw in all the big 
ones I could find, now and then hearing a grunt and seeing the 
bushes move, which showed that I had gone near him. This 
went on for some time, and I^was nearly out of big stones, when 
the bear broke cover on the opposite side and I gave him a shot 
from behind, when he rolled over backwards iato the cover again. 
Almost all the bears I have shot have done this when hit, and 
until you know better you think you have made a splendid shot ; 
the truth is, that they bite at the wound, and in doing so roll over, 
but are up again and off in an instant, unless the wound is really 
mortal. \ The bear now sulked, and stones were evidently of no 
use, so I had to make up my mind to go in and tackle him in 
his den. This was all the more awkward, as I had disabled one 
barrel of my rifle, the base of a brass cartridge having come off, 
leaving the remainder in the barrel. Had there been any spec- 
tators looking at me I think the task would have been easy, but 
I walked round the place and did not like the look of it at all. 
It was very thick, and to go in one would have to crawl, and 
be in a very awkward position for shooting as the bear charged. 
I fear I was a long time before I made up my mind to do it, and 
I then found the largest hole I could and began to creep in, 
pushing my rifle in front of me. I had got in perhaps twelve 
feet when I saw something moving up and down, and on looking 
closely, for the light was bad inside, I saw that it was the bear's 
jaw. He was evidently hit in the stomach, and was lying with 
his head on his paws breathing hard. I brought up my rifle, 
and aiming at the centre of his forehead fired, just as he was 
rising to charge me. The smoke hung so that I could see 



342 THE COLONEL HAS GOOD SPORT. 

nothing; and thinking that perhaps I could see better outside, 
I retired in such haste that I left some skin and part of my 
clothing on the thorns. On getting outside and finding that 
the bear had not followed me, I allowed time for the smoke to 
clear away, and then went in again, and saw him lying in much 
the same position, and evidently dead. I had desperately hard 
work turning him over and opening him, as he was the largest 
bear I had yet killed ; the thorns too were very dense, and it 
was almost impossible to cut them with a common butcher's 
knife ; however I managed it at last, and having carefully taken 
the bearings of the place, and blazed several trees leading to 
it, I rode off towards camp, but did not get in till the next 
morning, as the bear-fight occupied some time. 

I found that the Colonel had killed three bears, though none 
of them were as large as my last, and he had also had good 
sport with deer and elk. There were certainly more bears near 
our camp than anywhere in that range, and many more elk, 
and I have often noticed, as a very curious thing, that two 
parties of hunters will hunt the same range, some miles apart, 
and while one will have no sport at all, the other will have as 
much as they want. 

One of the Colonel's bears had been killed in an unusual 
manner. He had seen the bear out in an open place, and by 
keeping behind him and walking very cautiously had got 
within thirty or forty yards, killing him at the first shot. At 
the beginning of the trip the Colonel used solid balls in a single 
Sharp's rifle, but seeing my express balls and the execution 
they did, he sent into Helena, the capital of Montana, and had 
an express mould made, and from that time used express balls 
with excellent results ; his rifle was a "45, with a charge of a 



SHOOT MORE BEARS. 343 

hundred grains of powder, the accuracy being quite as good as 
with the proper bullet, which was a long conical one. 

We remained in this camp another fortnight, getting three 
more bears, of which I shot two, and one of them was nearly 
as large as the one I have spoken of, the weight of which we 
calculated to be about eleven hundred pounds. The second 
large one I got when out on foot. I saw him enter some 
bushes, and having grown bold from seeing how many stones 
it took to dislodge the other, I walked very confidently to 
within four yards of the bushes and then threw in a large 
piece of rock. I suppose it must have gone very near the bear, 
if it did not actually hit him, for out he came at once ; I had 
no time to raise the rifle, so I fired from the hip, both barrels 
at once, and then having business at the top of the hill which 
would admit of no delay, I made " capital time " for about a 
hundred yards, turning when near the top, and when my rifle 
was loaded, to find that the bear had not stirred, but was lying 
where I had fired at him, and yet I could have declared that he 
was smelling at the calves of my legs all the way up the hill. 
Both bullets had taken him in the top of the head, and he had 
died almost immediately. 

A few days after this we left this camp for Martinsdale, going 
out of the mountains by a new way, and had very hard work 
to get the waggon across the numerous watercourses we met 
with, as our team was a weak one. The day we left we saw a 
grizzly bear feeding on the ridge on our right, so having halted 
the waggon, the Colonel and I tied up our horses and climbed 
the ridge, and on looking over the top we saw the bear feeding 
not more than fifty yards from us, with his head down in the 
long grass rooting. We fired together and he rolled over, 



344 ATTEMPT TO LASSO THE GREY. 

dying in a few minutes, and we found that he was small, but 
had the best coat of any we had killed. 

We stopped about three miles from the ranche, and found a 
party of men camped near us, who had been into Carroll for 
their winter supplies. One of them, who was a baker, was the 
butt of the party, and they were telling him of all the Indian 
atrocities that they could remember or invent, as he was a 
greenhorn and had only just come from the east. They moved 
their camp close to ours, and we remained a few days there, as 
the feed was good. 

One day I was bringing in my grey horse, intending to ride 
him, when he managed to slip the rope over his head and gallop 
off. I got another horse and chased him, several of the men 
joining me, but he was so crafty that we could not catch him. 
He had evidently been lassoed before, and knew how to avoid 
the rope. When you thought you must have him, and had 
thrown the noose so that it fell just where his head should be, 
he immediately lowered it, and the rope slipped along his back, 
when he would raise his head again. Bowles happened to come 
into camp just as we were thinking of giving up the chase, and 
as he prided himself on his roping, he laughed at us, and asked 
us to let him do it, and of course we were only too glad. He 
started very confidently, and ran his horse down, trying to get 
his rope over, but without succeeding, and had to give it up at 
last, and we were obliged to drive the horse to the ranche, in 
the yard of which we roped him. 

As our horses looked somewhat better we all started together, 
camping in the pass between the Little and Big Snowies the 
first night, and as we were to separate here, the other party 
tried to persuade us to pass another night, but being in a hurry 



INTRODUCED TO MR. CLENDENIN. 345 

to get our letters we left the next morning, a fortunate thing, 
as we heard after wards, as on our arrival at Martin sdale we 
heard that the party we had just left had been attacked by the 
Indians that night, who had fired at the tent to frighten them, 
and had then tried to stampede their horses. But the green- 
horn had frustrated the attempt by rushing out and firing 
rapidly at them with a repeating rifle, all the other men re- 
maining in the tent. Had we been there we should probably 
have lost all our stock, as our horses were only picketed, while 
theirs were also hobbled. The Indians had cut the picket-ropes, 
but in the darkness had not noticed the hobbles, which pre- 
vented the horses from going off. 

At Martinsdale we introduced ourselves to Mr. Clendenin, 
a brother of Colonel Clendenin, who owned one of the two 
houses of which the place was composed, and were hospitably 
entertained by him. Happening to speak of bears, he told us 
that he had just returned from a timber camp which he had 
in the mountains, and that while there a large bear had come 
into the camp one night, and opening the mess chest had eaten 
all the bread, sugar, and butter it contained, not attempting to 
touch anyone. He told us, too, that when his brother was on 
his way the year before between Benton and Berthold on 
horseback, two large grizzlies had come down close to his camp, 
where he and his companions were sitting by the fire, and had 
evidently wished to carry off a deer which was hanging up. 
They had only one small-bore rifle with them, which would only 
have irritated the bears without doing them much harm, so 
they did not fire, managing at last to drive them away with 
firebrands. This was in the winter, when the snow was deep and 
the bears savage from hunger. I heard of one which came into 



346 SHEEP-RANCHES. 

a cowshed^ close against the back of a ranche, in broad daylight 
and carried off a calf. These, however, are exceptional cases, 
and although I have killed seventy-four grizzlies, most of them 
by myself, but some in company with other men, I have only 
had two of them charge me unprovoked, and one of these I all 
but rode over. They always seem to be in a great hurry to 
get away, though they will turn and fight if wounded and you 
are near them at the time. 

We remained two days at Martinsdale, the whole talk being 
of sheep, which were then beginning to be introduced into that 
part of the country. When I visited the Judith Basin in 1884 
I found the whole of it a mass of sheep-ranches, and not at all 
improved by the change, a sheep-ranche being a very unpleasant 
place to stop at, the immense number of sheep tainting the 
whole air. Soon after I left, on that occasion, began what was 
almost a war between the cattle and the sheep men, the one 
industry interfering with the other, as cattle will not graze on 
ground where sheep have been. I believe there is now peace 
once more, the district having been divided ; but even yet the 
<c cow man " has not a good word to say for the " sheep man," 
and I have often been warned by the former never to stop at a 
sheep-ranche, as they would feed me badly and charge hotel 
prices. Having received great kindness from both, I need 
hardly say that this is all prejudice. 

The day is fast coming when these large ranches must dis- 
appear, as from the cattle and sheep remaining on the same 
ground all the year round the grass is giving out, and already 
very large districts in Wyoming, Montana, and Dacotah have 
had to be abandoned. 

When I was in the last-mentioned State four years ago there 



CATTLE DISAPPEARING. 347 

were many thousands of cattle on the Little Missouri, and now 
nearly all of these have disappeared and have been replaced by 
small bands of horses, which stand the cold better, and, being 
of course not so numerous as cattle, allow the grass a chance of 
recovering itself. The large ranches will eventually be succeeded 
by farms, where a certain number of cattle, sheep, and horses 
will be raised, and where, being fattened on corn, they will 
fetch better prices. 



348 CRAZY WOMAN MOUNTAINS. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Visit Crazy Woman Mountains. — Difficult ravine. — Park-like country. — 
Narrow escape from a grizzly. — We make for the trade-road. — The end 
of my grey horse. — Some bragging hunters. — I part company from 
Colonel P and the men. — The stage waggon. — Dangers of stage- 
drivers. — A companion joins us. Queer story about him. I ride part 
of the way with him. — Arrival at Miles City. — I am offered quarters. 
Which I decline. — Call on General Miles. — Stories of General Miles. — 
I leave Fort Keogh with the General. — Rough journey. — Yellowstone 
Kelly. — Arrival at Fcrt Abraham Lincoln. — Kindness of American 
officers. — Road agents. — More anecdotes of General Miles. — Arrival at 
Chicago. — The present state of my old hunting-grounds. — Conclusion. 

From Martinsdale we travelled towards the Crazy Woman 
Mountains, which are said to have been so called because the 
Indians found a white woman wandering in them, who was 
crazy from hunger and exposure. Our way lay through a 
beautifully billy country, well wooded and having numerous 
small streams running through it. Wishing to explore as 
much of it as possible, I took a line of my own, about two 
miles further south than the one taken by the waggon. It was, 
in those days, entirely uninhabited, Indians and now and then 
a stray prospector being the only people you were likely to 
meet, and these last were very scarce then, as the danger from 
Indians was so great. 






DIFFICULT RAVINE. 349 



While riding across a small prairie lying at the foot of the 
mountains, I found a great number of elk-horns which had 
evidently been shed, some of them being very old, and some 
only shed the year before, and among these I picked a beautiful 
little pair of horns of a deer which is now almost extinct — 
the fantail. They were very much like the horns of the black- 
tailed deer, but about a quarter the size ; from the state they 
were in, I should say that they had been there about two 
years. 

I rejoined the waggon at night and heard that the Colonel 
had killed three blacktails during the day ; I had seen several, 
but as we had plenty of meat I had not fired at them. On the 
second day we reached the Crazies, and found ourselves on 
the edge of an immense ravine about three hundred feet deep, 
and filled with a dense mass of trees and underbrush, and there 
was no way by which the waggon could cross. It was too late 
to go any further that night, so we camped, and had to carry 
water for ourselves and animals through the dense brush and up 
a bank at an angle of 45°, doing most of our labour in the 
dark. We had been told that we should come across a hunter's 
cabin on reaching the mountains, but we must have wandered 
out of our proper course, as we could find no traces of it. It 
was most unfortunate, as the owner of the cabin had lived in it 
for many years and knew the whole country, so that we could 
have got valuable information from him. 

The next morning the Colonel and I rode along the edge of 
the ravine to find a crossing, and at last came to one which 
might be made to do, needing, however, a good deal of digging 
and brush cutting ; so we went back and brought the waggon 
to the top of it ; and then all of us set to work, and by evening 



350 NARROW ESCAPE FROM A GRIZZLY. 

we had a fair road down, and it took us till the middle of the 
next day to make one up on the other side, and even then we 
had to chain both hind wheels going down, and unload the 
waggon and carry everything up to enable the team to take the 
waggon over, and our want of proper tools made the work 
much harder, as we had only one shovel and pick. 

The country on the other side was worth all the trouble we 
had taken to reach it. It was very much like a fine English 
park — open glades and clumps of fine trees, with patches of 
brush scattered about, where we could always jump deer. 
Bear-sign was, however, very scarce, and what we found was 
old, showing that they had left this part of the country, and 
we only saw one small one in the eight days we remained here. 
We were a little tired of deer-shooting, so we determined to 
move on again, which we did, going about fourteen miles to 
where the Crazies ended, as there were some fine valleys run- 
ning into the range from there. The day after we reached our 
new camp the Colonel had rather a close shave with a grizzly. 
He was out hunting on horseback, and dismounted to stalk an 
elk, when he came on a large bear drinking at a stream. He 
managed to crawl up to within about sixty yards when he fired, 
striking the bear far back, as there were a good many bushes in 
the way and it was difficult to see him. The bear immediately 
charged, and the Colonel, having some trouble in getting a 
fresh cartridge in, scrambled up a steep bank which was behind 
him ; the bear sprang twice at it, but each time fell back, the 
wound having crippled his hind quarters ; and it was trying a 
third time, when the Colonel managed to get the cartridge in 
and fire, killing the bear. This was a very powerful animal, 
though not so large as some of the others we had shot, but the 



MOUNTAIN-SHEEP. 351 

muscles of the forearm were so much developed that the men 
always spoke of it afterwards as the prizefighter. 

One day the Colonel and I started for a long ride into the 
mountains to explore some very likely-looking ground for elk 
and bears, passing through some lovely country, but seeing 
nothing but black- and white-tailed deer till we reached a high 
point, when we got our glasses and soon made out some 
mountain-sheep above us, and some of them seemed to have 
fine heads. It necessitated a long climb, so the Colonel agreed 
to hold the horses while I went after the sheep. I had to 
descend some way, as there was no cover above us, and make 
a long detour, ascending again when I was round the end of 
the mountain, fallen timber making the walking very slow and 
tiring. I had got up higher than where the sheep were, when 
I saw two Indians going along the mountain-side above me on 
foot, and as there was no way of telling to what tribe they 
belonged, I lay down in the brush for fully an hour to let them 
get well away, when I continued my stalk, and on turning the 
point of the mountain again I saw that the sheep had moved 
and were coming my way, so I got behind a large tree and 
waited about twenty minutes, by which time they were only 
about a hundred and twenty yards from me. All I could see 
were sheep or young rams, so I let them enter a thicket, where 
they lay down, and my patience was nearly exhausted when 
two fine rams came up at full speed, giving me a snap shot, 
when I hit the hinder one, and had a run of about two miles 
over awful rocks before I could get in a second shot and finish 
him. The horns were a very perfect pair, but not so large as 
I had fancied, being only thirty-five inches long and eleven 
inches round the thickest part. 



352 LARGE BAND OF ELK. 

I found that the Colonel, tired of waiting and thinking I had 
gone after something else, had moved and shown himself, and 
his doing so had started the rams. We separated now, 
arranging where we were to meet. I was to take the high 
ground while the colonel skirted the base of the mountains, 
and soon after leaving him I saw a large band of elk feeding 
on the opposite side of a valley which lay below me. I let 
them feed over the ridge and then led my pony down and 
picketed him in the valley, climbing the hill on foot. It was 
necessary to be careful now, as I was going in the same 
direction that the Indians had taken, and they might have 
heard my shots at the ram and might be lying in wait some- 
where near. I had nearly gained the ridge over which the elk 
had gone when I saw two young bulls watching me, so I lay 
still, hoping they would go away ; but this they did not seem 
inclined to do, for they would pretend to fight and butt at one 
another, and then come a little nearer to have a look at me. 
Getting tired of this, I waved my handkerchief to and fro, 
when they trotted off, and I climbed to the top of the ridge 
and found myself within forty yards of a large band of elk : 
most of them were lying down ; but I could see no fine heads, 
so I thought I would risk it and jumped up suddenly, when 
there was an extraordinary commotion, the elk going in all 
directions, some of them running against others in their con- 
fusion ; but as I did not want meat, and did not see a single 
fine head, I did not fire, though they were so stupid that I 
could easily have killed two or three. The bulls must have fed 
on ahead, as I did not see a single large one as they went off. 
I rejoined the Colonel towards evening and found that he had 
killed a good ram, with finer horns than the one I had got, the 



LOSE OURSELVES. 353 

horns being nearly two inches longer and one and a half 
thicker ; he had seen a great many deer, but no sign of a bear. 
As it was now late we rode as fast as we could for camp, 
but were so hindered by the roughness of the ground that we 
found we could not do it, not knowing the country well 
enough to travel through it in the dark ; we therefore selected 
a small sheltered hollow and put up a bough shelter, made a 
big fire in spite of Indians, using very dry wood so that the 
smoke should be less dense, and were soon very comfortable, 
consuming a good supper of mountain mutton and water, after 
which we turned in. Our only covering was one saddle- 
blanket, but by lying close to each other we got through the 
night pretty well, having now and then to make up the fire ; 
and in the morning, after a breakfast of more mutton-steaks, 
we reached camp by midday. 

Fishel and I made another round through the mountains on 
the following day, and managed to lose ourselves, as this part 
of the country was new to both of us ; but came at last to 
an old road. It was raining hard and very dark, so we got off 
to feel the road for tracks, as we had passed over one like this 
in coming to our present camp ; and after groping about for 
some minutes we found some tracks which we followed, and 
soon saw an immense fire which they had lighted in camp to 
guide us. We got in just as supper was ready and did ample 
justice to it. 

As bears seemed to have left this part of the country, and 
we did not care for any more deer-shooting, we decided to make 
for the stage-road between Bozeman and Fort Keogh, I intend- 
ing to take the stage for the latter place, while the Colonel 

meant to drive to Bozeman and sell the outfit, going on to 

2a 



354 SELL MY GREY HORSE. 

Helena for the winter. During the day we passed a small 
river, and on stopping to let the horses drink, the ColoneFs 
pony lay down, rolling him off into the stream, which was very 
cold, so we camped on the bank and lit a fire to dry him. The 
whole thing was so comical that I could not help laughing ; and 
very shortly after I was punished for doing so, as the grey 
bucked as I was sitting sideways talking to the Colonel, and so 
bucked me off for the second time, though he did not lash out 
at me as he had done before. Some men passed us late in the 
afternoon, and I sold him to them for rather more than I gave 
for him, and was very glad to get rid of him. I heard after- 
wards that he got loose when on the prairie, near the large 
Crow camp, and joined a band of buffalo, so that no doubt 
the Indians got him again. 

These men told us that during the previous winter they 
drove a band of elk into a small valley in the Crazies, from 
which there was no exit, closing the mouth of it with trees 
and brush, and had then killed the whole band, taking nothing 
but their skins and tongues ; happening to visit the valley some 
weeks later, they found that most of the bodies had been 
eaten by bears, which had been there in such numbers that 
the whole place was trampled by them, some of the tracks 
being very large. 

We struck the stage-road on the following day and drove 
down to the place where the stage changed horses, and found 
an old man and his wife in charge, who seemed to think 
nothing of the danger they ran from Indians. They told us 
that the stage was due in the morning, so we camped by the 
house, and while at breakfast two long-haired, very- much- 
fringed individuals drove up and dismounted, and after the 



BRAGGING HUNTERS. 355 

usual questions as to who we were, where we were going to, 
&c, they began to pull about our collection of horns, asking 
why we took home such poor things, one of them saying to the 
other, " Why, Bill, they are not much more than half the size 
of those we got last week ! " On our asking him how big those 
were, he said that he had held the head up, with the points of 
the horns on the ground, and that his companion, who was over 
six feet, had walked under the head without stooping. I had 
heard these stories so often that I thought I would test this one, 
so I took out fifty dollars and offered it for the head if they 
would bring it in. Seeing him hesitate, I took out another fifty 
dollars and offered them both for it, when the first speaker said 
that perhaps after all it might be hard to find the place where 
they had thrown them, and that they had not time to go there, 
after which they mounted and rode off. 

The stage came about eleven o'clock and proved to be an 
ordinary farm waggon, with short springs under the seat. The 
driver was a rough-looking fellow, but turned out to be better 
than he looked. There was no cover of any kind, so I spread 
my mackintosh sheet over my things, as we now had snow or 
rain every day. There were five large mail-sacks in the back 
of the waggon already, which, with my bedding and horns, 
quite filled it. Now came the good-byes, which are the most 
unpleasant part of all trips, four or five months in camp 
making men better friends than years in civilization, after 
which we parted. 

I found that the driver had been at this kind of life for 

many years, and was a pleasant companion. He had on several 

occasions been attacked by Indians, and had more than once 

to desert his mails, and to ride off on one of his team ; but for 

2a2 



356 DANGERS OF STAGE-DRIVERS. 

the last two years lie had had no trouble,, though he still 
carried a repeating rifle and a brace of revolvers in case of 
necessity. He told me that he feared white desperadoes more 
than Indians, as they could so easy pretend to be friendly and 
shoot him unawares. Once, when he was known to be carrying 
a good deal of money, one of them had met him on the road, 
and had ridden alongside of the waggon for some time, asking 
questions as to the country, and then, dropping behind, had 
fired twice at him with a revolver, missing him but hitting one 
of the horses. He had at once thrown himself down in front 
of the seat, and, his team bolting, had given him time to get at 
his rifle, with which he had fired at the man, driving him away, 
though he had not hit him, as he was unable to take any aim 
on account of the roughness of the road. - 

I found that we had about three hundred miles to do, and 
should be five days doing it, as our team was only two small 
ponies which were to be changed twice each day. The day's 
journeys were of very unequal lengths; the first and second 
were about sixty miles each, and then came one of ninety-six, 
while on each of the last two days we were to do forty miles. 

On the second day a young man, riding a cast cavalry horse 
and leading a second, joined us, whom my driver knew, asking 
him as he came up, " how it had gone," the answer being that 
it was all right ; and most of what followed was about mutual 
friends, after which the man left us and rode on. I asked who 
he was and what he meant by its " being all right," and was 
told that the man kept a saloon at Miles City — a place which 
was springing up near Fort Keogh — and that some months 
before he had been joined by a partner from the East who had 
brought a good deal of money with him for investment. The 



MY COMPANION MOSS. 357 

two men had occupied one room over the saloon, and one 
morning the partner had been found with his throat cut, while 
his money had disappeared. This man said that he found him 
dead on awaking in the morning, and that the window of the 
room was open. He was arrested and taken to Bozeman, 
where he was tried for murder and had just been acquitted, 
though my driver seemed to think him guilty. 

When we stopped for the night I had a long talk with this 
man, whose name was Moss, and at the end of it he told me 
that my nest day's drive was ninety-six miles, and that 
although we were supposed to get in that evening, we should 
really be going all the next day, as the team was only changed 
once, so he offered me the use of his second horse if I would 
ride with him, in which case we should be in by seven and be 
in time for supper. I accepted the offer, and then took the 
driver aside to ask him what he thought of it. He advised my 
going, as I should avoid a very tedious drive, and he thought 
that Moss had now had a good lesson and would hardly risk 
hanging, which would be a certainty were he tried again on 
the same charge. To make sure I borrowed one of his 
revolvers, not having one with me. 

"We were off before daylight, and breakfasted under a very 
curious rock, covered with Indian carvings, about twenty miles 
from the stage station, having done this in something over two 
hours and a half. We rested an hour, turning our horses out 
to feed, and started again about eight o'clock, making forty 
miles by dinner time, having dinner at a stage station where 
the waggon was expected to arrive in about three hours. The 
remaining distance we managed easily by half-past six, without 
the horses having suffered at all. We had gone at a hand- 



358 CALL ON GENERAL MILES. 

canter nearly all day, Moss leading, and I had found him a 
very pleasant companion, as he had lived a long time in the 
West and had a great collection of stories connected with it. 
Of conrse I said nothing of what I had heard, nor did he 
allude to it. He left us the next morning, intending to be in 
Miles City by night, offering to take me with him; but I 
preferred arriving with my things, as I wished to make myself 
presentable before calling on General Miles, to whom I had a 
letter of introduction. As there was no hotel, Moss offered me 
a bed at his saloon; but this I declined with thanks, as I 
should hardly have felt comfortable there, so I promised to 
look him up if I came to Miles City, which he said was about 
two miles from Fort Keogh, on the opposite side of the Yellow- 
stone River. The two following days I rode on the stage, 
through a very uninteresting country, reaching Fort Keogh 
early in the afternoon of the second. Here I went to call on 
General Miles, who was in command ; but my appearance, I 
fear, was anything but prepossessing, as I had a four months' 
beard, long hair, and was very much tanned ; my clothes, too, 
were not in first-rate condition, and my boots had not been 
blacked since I left Bismarck. 

The General received me very kindly, and said that he would 
put me up as long as he remained at the post; but he was on 
the point of going East on leave, after which he would be 
transferred to another command, so that he was selling off 
everything and did not know how much furniture I should find 
in my room, nor how long what there was would remain there. 
I was soon comfortably established, finding a good bed, 
wash-stand, some chairs, and a carpet; and it was a great 
source of amusement during my stay, as we inquired each 



ANECDOTES CONCERNING HIM. 359 

morning what articles had disappeared since the day before. 
The first thing to go was the bed and bedding, when I came to 
a mattress on the floor ; then this went, and I put my buffalo- 
robe in a corner and slept on that ; then all the rest of the 
things except the basin went, and that I emptied out of 
the window and hid every day under my robe, the General 
faring in the same way. One of the officers droye me to Miles 
City ; but I found it was a miserable little place, containing 
about a hundred inhabitants, most of them keeping saloons, 
the soldiers being their customers ; and yet, when I heard of this 
place four years afterwards, it was from a young lady who had 
just been by rail to a ball there, and it was then a fine and 
rapidly-growing place of several thousands, with stone houses, 
a town-hall, and a Mayor and Councilmen. 

While at the Post I heard several stories of my host, who 
was said to be the best Indian fighter in the American army ; 
and this was because he imitated their tactics, travelling with 
very little baggage, and starting at once on hearing news of 
Indians. It was not at all uncommon for the bugle to blow in 
the middle of the night, and when the officers and men were 
mustered the General would tell them that his scouts had 
brought him word that a war-party was near the Post, on their 
way to attack some settlement, and that a hundred men, with 
mules in proportion, must be at his quarters ready for a four 
or five days' scout in thirty minutes. The mule-master was in 
despair, assuring me that it was impossible for him to keep his 
mules in good condition, as they were nearly always away on 
these expeditions, and would come back mere bags of skin and 
bone, and in many cases not come back at all, having been 



360 GENERAL MILES ATTACKS THE INDIANS. 

left on the road, as they could not keep up, when the Indians 
got thein. 

On one occasion the General had started with a party of 
ladies to the Yellowstone Park, three or four officers and an 
escort going with them, and while on their way some of his 
Indian scouts met him, and told him that a war-party of Sioux 
under a noted chief was only about a day's ride from where they 
then were, returning from a raid. A consultation was held, 
and the General decided to send the ladies to Fort Ellis in 
charge of a corporal and two men, and to go himself with the 
remainder of the escort in pursuit of the war-party, sending for 
help from Ellis. The distance to the fort was sixty miles, and 
the ladies were in despair, doing all they could to alter his 
decision, but to no purpose, as they were at once sent off, the 
General and his party, consisting of thirty-seven men all told, 
going in the opposite direction. The scouts represented the 
" hostiles " as being about one hundred and thirty warriors, 
though they were not at all sure of this, and recommended 
waiting for reinforcements from Ellis; but this the General 
would not hear of, so they pushed on, and, were close to the 
camp by night. The plan of attack was that a Captain Bennett 
should take one half of the men round to the opposite side, and 
that at the report of a pistol they should all close in, no pri- 
soners being taken. This was carried out and a furious fight 
ensued, the Indians, though surprised, fighting well, and it 
ended in most of the Sioux being killed, a few escaping in the 
dark. On the side of the troops, though several men were 
wounded, there was only one man killed, the first shot fired by 
the Indians hitting Captain Bennett in the forehead, killing him 
so instantaneously, that the cigar he was smoking lay close to 



THE GENERAL'S SCOUTS. 361 

his mouth when he was found. A number of scalps were found, 
many of them those of women and children, justifying what 
had been done. General Miles had the best scouts in America, 
and got them in a very unusual manner. Having beaten a 
large party of Sheyennes, about three years before I met him, 
he offered the survivors liberty on condition that they would 
come to Fort Keogh as scouts, when he promised to get them 
implements and seeds, and to build them houses, selling some 
of their ponies to raise the money. They came and made a 
permanent camp, getting their wives and children from their 
homes, and, when I was at Keogh , were doing so well that 
they supplied the fort with most of the grain, vegetables, &c, 
that it needed, besides making the best scouts that the General 
had ever had. They had orders to disturb him at any hour, 
day or night, and did not hesitate to do so, and always spoke 
of him as their white chief. 

As the time drew near for the General to start, he very kindly 
offered to take me with him, which of course I accepted with 
much pleasure, as otherwise I should have had more than four 
hundred miles in the waggon in which I had arrived. When 
it was known that I was going with the General, I was condoled 
with by my friends at the Fort, and was told that I should 
have to do the four hundred and twenty miles without getting 
a single night's rest, travelling incessantly, as relays of mules 
would be sent on under escort from Keogh halfway to Fort 
Lincoln, others being sent from there for the other half. We 
were given a grand " send off" supper by one of the officers, 
arrangements having been made to start at twelve o'clock that 
night, but a very heavy snow-storm coming on while we were 
at supper, our departure was postponed to the same hour the 



362 ROUGH JOURNEY. 

next night, when we were given another supper by the doctor 
of the post, and this time we really did get off. We were a 
party of eight in two ambulances, each drawn by four mules, 
and had two men on the box of each ; besides an escort of a 
corporal and six men, as there was a possibility of being stopped 
either by Indians or " road agents." Our baggage was carried 
in a light waggon behind. We made fifty miles by morning, 
changing mules once, and before doing so had to cross a 
river, on the other side of which was a camp, where we were 
to find fresh mules and our guide, a celebrated scout, who 
went by the name of " Yellowstone Kelly/'' We drove into 
the river, which at the ford was not more than two feet deep, 
but as it was very dark we crossed a little too high up, and the 
ambulance getting into a quicksand began to go down. The 
mules, after struggling for a few minutes, lay down and refused 
to try any more, as they always do when frightened. It was 
very dark and we could see nothing, but could feel the water 
coming into the bottom of the ambulance. The General 
shouted to the escort, who came alongside and took us out one 
by one, seated behind them on their horses' backs. 

On landing I found myself in a small camp, and as all the 
men had to turn out and help, I took possession of some blan- 
kets and was soon fast asleep. It took them nearly three hours 
to get out the ambulance and put everything straight, and I 
pitied the soldiers as they had to work up to their waists in ice- 
cold water. We ate a hasty breakfast and started again, and 
by twelve o'clock had done ninety miles, halting for dinner in 
the middle of a prairie, where there was water but no wood, 
the General telling us that he gave us an hour in which to cook 
and eat our dinner. We had brought plenty of steaks with us, 



YELLOWSTONE KELLY. 363 

but they were raw, and there was no wood or substitute for it 
within miles. Our guide showed us some bushes which were 
just visible on the edge of the prairie, about two miles away, and 
some of the escort were sent off at full speed to fetch some of 
them. We had barely time to cook half the steaks and bolt 
them, when the order was given to start again. We got one 
night's rest after all on the way down, one relay of mules being 
behind time, and the General and I turned in on the seats of 
the ambulance, which were made to fold down to form a bed, 
and as we were both of us pretty big men, it was an uncom- 
monly tight fit, one being obliged to turn when the other did. 

And now a few words as to our guide, Yellowstone Kelly, 
about whom enough stories have been told to fill a dozen 
" penny dreadfuls/' He was said to have killed dozens of 
Indians, and to have had hair-breadth escapes without number. 
I had several talks with him, and found him to be a very quiet, 
unassuming man, who had very little to say about himself. I 
asked him if he had ever killed seven Indians in one fight when 
quite alone, as I had been told ; he replied that he had never 
killed more than two, and that only once. He had been riding 
with despatches from one Northern Post to another, when he 
was waylaid by two Indians, who fired at but missed him. 
Not knowing how many there were, he threw himself from his 
horse and lay as if dead, when the two Indians walked up to 
him, and as they got near him he shot one and killed the other 
with his clubbed rifle. He said that he had been in a good many 
Indian fights, but had only once been wounded, a bullet having 
taken off a portion of one of his ears. His chief exploit was 
watching Sitting Bull's camp for six weeks without being dis- 
covered, though there were nine hundred Indians in it at the 



364 



ARRIVE AT FORT ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



time, and discovery meant death. His duty was to bring word 
to General Terry at Fort Benton of any contemplated raid 
over the American frontier, as Sitting Bull was then in 
British territory. 

Nothing of any consequence occurred until we reached the 
Big Heart Biver, which was frozen over, but which the guide 
thought would. not bear the ambulance. The General, how- 
ever, told the driver to " go ahead/"' and we drove on to the 
ice, which gave way under us, and we went down suddenly about 
two feet, the mules remaining on the ice; they struggled des- 
perately to get us out again, but instead of doing so went in 
themselves, and all was now confusion — the mules tumbling 
over one another, the driver beating them, and the General 
shouting to " go ahead " \ and our difficulties were much in- 
creased by its being a very dark night. The whip was kept 
going on the team, and by breaking the ice all the way across 
we reached the bank at last, and had to halt to repair damages, 
as some of the harness was broken. 

Shortly after getting under weigh again, when crossing a deep 
and narrow watercourse, the pole of our ambulance was run into 
the opposite bank and broken off at the base, but the mules 
managed to take us safely out of it. Here the General showed 
what he was, as he took off his coat and spliced the pole him- 
self, making a very good job of it. A few hours after this we 
drove into Fort Abraham Lincoln. I found in command here 
the General Sturgiss who had been so kind to me at Fort 
Belknap in Northern Texas in 1878, and who now pressed me 
to stop with him ; but I could not accept his kind invitation, as 
I wished to return to the east for Christmas. 

Nothing can exceed the kindness of American officers to 



ROAD AGENTS. 365 

anyone going to one of the Western Posts. He receives so 
many offers of hospitality, that he is at a loss which to accept. 
I once stayed for two months at Fort Wadsworth, in Dacotah, 
and had the use of an ambulance and of any of the horses 
belonging to the Post at any time, having merely to say what 
I wanted and when. 

General Miles was also in a hurry to go east, and I wished 
to travel with him, so we crossed to Bismarck and took the 
train for St. Paul's, the General and his guide being the observed 
of all observers, and I must have been asked fifty times to 
introduce men to the former. During the journey I was sur- 
prised to find Kelly reading Pope's Homer's Iliad, and when I 
expressed astonishment, he told me that he had not been brought 
up to be a scout, but had been made one by circumstances. 

On reaching St. Paul's, the General got a telegram telling 
him that two ambulances full of officers, who had left Keogh 
only one day after us with an escort of six men, had been 
"held up," as it is called, which means stopped by "road 
agents/' whose cry is always " hold up your hands," when they 
proceed to examine your pockets, some of the party keeping 
their rifles aimed at you. It seems that the escort was nearly 
a mile ahead, and that the ambulances were travelling slowly, 
when four men with repeating rifles sprang into the road 
shouting to the escort to hold up their hands, which they did 
at once as their carbines were fastened to their saddles. They 
were searched and their w.eapons taken from them, and they 
were then conducted into a ravine, where one man was left to 
guard them. The other three then returned and stopped the 
ambulances, and went through the party, getting a thousand 
dollars (£200) from one officer, who had in consequence to give 



366 THE GENERAL'S INDIAN EXPLOITS. 

up his leave and return to the Post. They took all the guns 
and ammunition, and cutting the traces and the soldiers' saddle- 
girths, they rode off, and so far as I could hear were never 
captured, though parties of soldiers scoured the country in all 
directions. These men might very easily have done the same 
thing to us, as our escort always rode with their carbines in 
slings beside the saddle, and we were so tightly wedged in the 
ambulances that though the corners bristled with weapons, as 
I knew to my cost when I nodded, we could never have got 
them out in time ; the only man of our party who was ready 
was Kelly, who carried his rifle across the front of his 
saddle. 

At St. Paul's we were given a grand dinner, and from Bis- 
marck to Chicago we were not allowed to pay for our railway 
tickets, everyone wishing to honour the General on account of 
his Indian exploits. I heard one of these which may interest 
my readers. He had been pursuing White Cloud, the great 
Sioux chief, for some days, and at last found him camped in a 
deep ravine, where he evidently meant to make a stand. A 
scout was sent to summon the chief and his warriors to sur- 
render, when the answer was, that if the white men wanted 
them they must come and take them. The General had some 
mountain howitzers with him, and with these he shelled the 
Indians' position, they returning the fire as well as they could. 
This went on for two days, when the chief sent to say that he 
would surrender, as the white men were too strong for him. 
White Cloud and his warriors then came out of the ravine, 
bringing their wounded with them, and marched slowly to 
where the General was. They shook hands and sat down for 
a talk, and the chief asked to be allowed to go away for eight 



MY OLD HUNTING-GROUNDS. 367 

days, that lie might take his wounded to their home and make 
some necessary arrangements with his tribe, promising that he 
and his warriors would return at the end of that time and give 
themselves up. Most of the officers present were opposed to 
this, saying that if he were allowed to go he would not come 
back; but the General granted his request at once, and the 
Indians left, returning on the appointed day and surrendering 
themselves as prisoners. It turned out at their trial that the 
tribe had been more sinned against than sinning, and they were 
only sent back to their Reservation. 

At Chicago I said good-bye to the General, as our respective 
routes diverged here, and so ended one of the pleasantest trips 
I ever made. 

I have now come to the end of what, I fear, is a rambling 
account of my experiences in the Great North West, and 
their only interest, if interest they have, is in their depicting 
a kind of life which has now become a memory, and a very 
dear one to those who have once enjoyed it. I have paid 
several visits to my old hunting-grounds since 1878, and in 
many cases did not recognize them, so much had ranches and 
enclosures changed the face of the country. The whole of the 
Judith Basin is now a mass of sheep-ranches, and with the 
exception of a stray antelope or deer all big game has dis- 
appeared, though on my last visit I saw, even in these matter- 
of-fact days, something which reminded me of old times. Five 
Sioux Indians had made a horse-stealing raid on the Bannock 
camp and had run off some ponies ; they had been closely pur- 
sued, and had taken refuge in a cattle corral, where they had 
all been killed. This happened in July, and I saw the bodies 
in November, and I thought it a most convincing proof of the 



368 RETROSPECT. 

beauty of the climate of Montana that these bodies were not 
in the least unpleasant, but had simply shrivelled up. 

The whole country was covered with cattle and cowboys, very 
poor substitutes, in my eyes, for buffaloes and Indians ; and I 
could not help regretting the days when I had ridden over that 
beautiful country, my rifle across the front of my saddle, 
depending on it for my daily food, and never knowing how 
soon I might have to use it in self-defence. Texas, too, was 
changed even more : towns have sprung up all over the prairies, 
wretched little Henrietta being now quite an important place, 
and Granville a city, while the scene of the Custer fight is now 
enclosed as fields. 

While writing the foregoing chapters I have lived again in 
the past, remembering none of its drawbacks ; and if I have 
given my readers a portion of the pleasure which I have felt 
myself, my task has not been in vain. 



THE END. 



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